Official News page 13

BONUS PICTURE OF THE WEEK: SUPER MOON

by Hazed

Last night's moon was huge. If you saw it near the horizon it would have appeared even larger than normal. It's a well-known illusion that the moon looks larger on the horizon than it does up in the sky, but yesterday the full moon coincided with the lunar perigee - the point at which it is closest to the Earth - so it really was a big moon. But don't panic, the moon isn't about to crash into the Earth, even if it does look like it's getting dangerously close.

Here's a picture of the super moon - not taken last night, but earlier in the year. The huge orb shines in the sky above the ruined Parthenon in Greece. See the picture here: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110320.html.

If you missed seeing it last night it'll still look pretty huge tonight and probably for a few days yet.

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