Perigee Moon

A full Moon of rare size and beauty called a super "perigee moon" could be seen over the weekend.

It was the the biggest in almost 20 years on Saturday because its orbit brought it closer to Earth. Due to cloudy skies, the photo above was taken on Sunday evening. The last full Moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993, according to Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.

Full Moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the Moon's orbit. It is an ellipse with one side (perigee) about 50,000 km closer to Earth than the other (apogee). Nearby perigee moons are about 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than lesser moons that occur on the apogee side of the Moon's orbit.

News, Pages 2 on 03/23/2011