Largest & brightest ‘Full Moon’ of 2010, as seen from our house tonight!

I came to know from today’s newspapers that tonight we can see a lunar spectacle, the largest and brightest Full Moon of 2010. The sky was very clear tonight and we enjoyed watching the bright Full Moon until midnight. I do not know whether there is any astrological significance but being the first Full Moon of 2010, I wish and hope the year ahead will also be bright for all of us.

The above photographs are of tonight’s Moon as seen from the front of our house. The Moon I understand is 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter today than the usual Moons of the year. This is because the Moon orbits the earth in an elliptical orbit with one side closer to the earth than the other by 50,000 Kms. While the Moon’s average distance from Earth is 3,84,800 Kms., today it is around 3,56,630 Kms. This phenomenon may occur once or twice in a year and in 2010 it is just once and that was today.