Article Posted on : - Jan 29, 2010

NEW DELHI (BNS): The Moon will appear to be bigger and seen at its brightest when it comes closest to the Earth on Saturday night, according to a scientist.

"Some full moons are genuinely larger than others and the one on Saturday will be huge," said C.B. Devgun director SPACE, as quoted by Indian news agency IANS.

The moon will be 15 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than we will see for the rest of the year, he said.

"This is because the moon's orbit is an ellipse with one side 50,000 km closer to earth than the other.”

"On Jan 30, the moon becomes full, three hours after reaching perigee, making it bigger and brighter than we are going to see for the rest of 2010," said Devgun.

The moon at perigee will look bigger than it looks in all other positions, as the apparent size of closer objects is always more.