The moon will hit your eye like a big pizza pie in many parts of America tonight and again Sunday night. And that’s amoré for stargazers who will glimpse the biggest full moon of the new year. Less than one month ago, the biggest full moon of 2008 drew backyard astronomers to their telescopes.

Image above caption:

Moon Aglow

Framed by the Earth’s horizon and airglow, the full moon floats in the blackness of space in this photo from the Expedition 10 crew on board the International Space Station. The Station plays a crucial role as an orbital outpost, as NASA pursues an exploration strategy that will send humans back to the lunar surface and eventually on to Mars and beyond.
Image Credit: NASA

The moon is so bright this weekend because our planet’s closest cosmic neighbor has reached its closest distance, or perigree, to Earth in half a century.

The moon’s size is also larger, 14-percent bigger to be exact. It’s also 30-percent brighter, and here’s why. The moon is usually just more than 238-thousand miles away, but the distance has decreased by 17-thousand miles, pulling it closer in, much to the delight of anyone on the ground looking up at the celestial event. Before last month’s full month, Earth’s last closest moon perigree was in 1993. The Earth’s next close encounter with a full moon is eight years away, on November 14, 2016.

To see this weekend’s full moon, look to the east shortly after sunset, and hope it’s not cloudy in your area. The full moon will be at its largest at moonrise and get smaller as it rises into the night sky.