Close to homeThe full moon's reflection is pinched by ice as it rises over Lake Superior and the Duluth Ship Canal on Friday evening. This weekend's full moon will be the closest of the year. (Bob King )
This being the first full moon of 2010, it is also known as the wolf moon, a moniker dating back to Native American culture and the notion that hungry wolves howled at the full moon on cold winter nights. Each month brings another full moon name.
Tonight's full moon is the first of the year.But why will this moon be bigger than others? Here's how the moon works:The moon is, on average, 238,855 miles from Earth. The moon's orbit around Earth – which causes it to go through all its phases once every 29.5 days – is not a perfect circle, but rather an ellipse. One side of the orbit is 31,070 miles closer than the other.So in each orbit, the moon reaches this closest point to us, called perigee. Once or twice a year, perigee coincides with a full moon, as it will tonight, making the moon bigger and brighter than any other full moons during the year.Tonight it will be about 14 percent wider and 30 percent brighter than lesser full moons of the year, according to Spaceweather.com.As a bonus, Mars will be just to the left of the moon tonight.
~another of God's great creations for us to enjoy! Have a good weekend.......Susan
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