The Moon will offer a gigantic image on Saturday night when, half an hour after reaching its full phase, it will be at the closest point to Earth in its orbit.
At 3:35 GMT on Sunday the full Moon will be at its
perigee, 356,955 kilometres from Earth. The "Super Moon" will then be about 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than during the other phases of full moon
between perigee and apogee (see Video also for explanation of terms).
NASA says this month the Moon will be at the closest perigee this year since the Moon's elliptical orbit shows variations of about 3 percent in the distances from Earth.
"The full Moon has a reputation for trouble. It raises high tides, it makes dogs howl, it wakes you up in the middle of the night with beams of moonlight stealing through drapes."
says Tony Phillips, a NASA astronomer in his NASA web page. “If a moonbeam wakes you up on the night of May 5th, 2012, you might want to get out of bed and take a look." he adds.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The exact time of the full moon is May 6th at 03:35 GMT,
which corresponds to May 5th, 23:35 hrs. Eastern Daylight Time in North America.
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