December 14, 2008 #064 - Amazing Full Moon

I hope you went out and took a look at the amazing full moon last night. This full moon was close to it's orbital perigee and as such was the closest, largest diameter, and brightest in about 15 years. I watched it rise through the woods to the east of our house until it cleared the last of the branches and floated into the clear sky.

As I left for work at 3:15 am the sky was hazy which dimmed it's overall brightness. A half hour later I was standing where I had an unobstructed view for miles in every direction. It was at an altitude of about 15 degrees past the zenith. A ring appearing to have a faint rainbow hue with a wall thickness the same as the moon's diameter circled it at 23 degrees. Contained within this ring were six stars near mag 3 or brighter. I stood and took in this beautiful view for a while. There are some rewards for going to work at this time of the morning!


Clear Sky - Rich