Super Moon Sunday

Weather permitting, the only super moon of the year is this Sunday.  A "super moon" is actually a full moon occurring near or at the time when the moon is at its closest point in it's orbit around the Earth.  It can appear as much as 14% bigger and 30% brighter than when a full moon is at its farthest distance from the Earth.

Due to the optical effect know as the "moon illusion", the full moon can seem huge when rising behind distant objects on the horizon.  That means a "super moon" appears very impressive.

So good news, if our weather is bad for this one, the first two full moons of 218 will also be "super moons".