Saturday night special: Biggest full moon of '09

[Raineyrocks]

   http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28581233/?GT1=43001

  Saturday night special: Biggest full moon of '09
Most viewed on msnbc.com
By Robert Roy Britt
updated 2:36 p.m. ET, Fri., Jan. 9, 2009

If skies are clear Saturday, go out at sunset and look for the giant moon rising in the east. It will be the biggest and brightest one of 2009, sure to wow even seasoned observers.

Earth, the moon and the sun are all bound together by gravity, which keeps us going around the sun and keeps the moon going around us as it goes through phases. The moon makes a trip around Earth every 29.5 days.

But the orbit is not a perfect circle. One portion is about 31,000 miles (50,000 km) closer to our planet than the farthest part, so the moon's apparent size in the sky changes. Saturday night (Jan. 10) the moon will be at perigee, the closest point to us on this orbit.
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It will appear about 14 percent bigger in our sky and 30 percent brighter than some other full moons during 2009, according to NASA. (A similar setup occurred in December, making that month's full moon the largest of 2008.)

High tides
Tides will be higher, too. Earth's oceans are pulled by the gravity of the moon and the sun. So when the moon is closer, tides are pulled higher. Scientists call these perigean tides, because they occur when the moon is at or near perigee. (The farthest point on the lunar orbit is called apogee.)

This month's full moon is known as the Wolf Moon from Native American folklore. The full moon's of each month are named. January's is also known as the Old Moon and the Snow Moon.

A full moon rises right around sunset, no matter where you are. That's because of the celestial mechanics that produce a full moon: The moon and the sun are on opposite sides of the Earth, so that sunlight hits the full face of the moon and bounces back to our eyes.

At moonrise, the moon will appear even larger than it will later in the night when it's higher in the sky. This is an illusion that scientists can't fully explain. Some think it has to do with our perception of things on the horizon vs. stuff overhead.

Try this trick, though: Using a pencil eraser or similar object held at arm's length, gauge the size of the moon when it's near the horizon and again later when it's higher up and seems smaller. You'll see that when compared to a fixed object, the moon will be the same size in both cases.


If you have other plans for Saturday night, take heart: You can see all this on each night surrounding the full moon, too, because the moon will be nearly full, rising earlier Friday night and later Sunday night.

[coffeeseven]

http://www.alphalifetrends.com/mercuryretrograde.html

Mercury retrogrades have a cycle** in which the retrogrades have an exactness of covering the same signs, the same degrees and approximately on the same calendar days. This exactness is seldom thought about Mercury retrograde, with the seemingly chaotic and confusing situations we experience during the retrogrades. The exact Mercury retrogrades we will experience in 2009 were the exact same signs, same degrees and approximately the same calendar days of 1930. This cycle** is seldom talked about in the astrology world, but is the cause of major course corrections for humanity. We can look back at history of 1930 to see the impact of Mercury retrogrades covering the same time frames, the same signs and the same degrees. We are coming to an important time as was experienced in 1930. For instance, the President of the U.S. in 1930 was Herbert Hoover, who had a birthday of August 10th, and the U.S. President in 2009 is Barack Obama, born August 4th, both having Sun in Leo. Few people are old enough to recount the transition of that time, but it becomes history repeating itself to give us a chance to grow as humanity, as a society and to make a difference. The Planet of Mars follows this same cycle and the sequence of Mars retrogrades are similar as well. Mercury rules ideas and attitudes and Mars brings these ideas and attitudes into action. The phrase "thoughts become things" certainly brings home the combined energy of these two planetary connections. With 2009 being an ELEVEN year (in numerology - more see below), Mars retrograde in Leo at the end of 2009 opens the door for visionary leadership to bring forward a higher level of opportunities.

[Lloyd Danforth]

This was very helpful arriving after  sunset

[Raineyrocks]

This was very helpful arriving after  sunset

I know this is going to sound a little messed up but this is the truth, I got the sun mixed up with the moon for some unexplained reason. Sorry. 

[John]

I wasn't going to post this to my youtube channel, but it seems that someone missed it. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9YnmdjPZyI&feature=channel_page

[Raineyrocks]

I wasn't going to post this to my youtube channel, but it seems that someone missed it. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9YnmdjPZyI&feature=channel_page

That was so pretty, thanks! 

I just realized, (again, I think),  that this is about a moon so now I'm confused because of Lloyd's sunset statement.   Did I mess up somewhere?      The moon comes out after sunset so that would be good if this was posted anytime that night, right?

Lloyd can you help me to understand too?

[KBCraig]

I had read about this ahead of time. It was the biggest of '09, but came right after the biggest for a couple of decades, which was in December '08.

We're surrounded by too many trees to see the moon at its rise, but I happened to step out late that night to put the trash out, and wow! 

The moon was straight overhead, on a clear night with a very, very thin, but even, wisp of cloud layer. The light made that very thin cloud layer light up, but the moon itself looked like it was sitting in a circle of black velvet. And the border between the black circle and the thin clouds was a perfect full-spectrum halo rainbow. Moonbow. Moondog. Whatever.

It was a cold night, but I had to call Mary out and we stood there laughing and grinning. It was the coolest moon ever.

[Raineyrocks]

I had read about this ahead of time. It was the biggest of '09, but came right after the biggest for a couple of decades, which was in December '08.

We're surrounded by too many trees to see the moon at its rise, but I happened to step out late that night to put the trash out, and wow! 

The moon was straight overhead, on a clear night with a very, very thin, but even, wisp of cloud layer. The light made that very thin cloud layer light up, but the moon itself looked like it was sitting in a circle of black velvet. And the border between the black circle and the thin clouds was a perfect full-spectrum halo rainbow. Moonbow. Moondog. Whatever.

It was a cold night, but I had to call Mary out and we stood there laughing and grinning. It was the coolest moon ever.

That sounds so awesome, I'm glad you and Mary got to enjoy it!     I sent the kids out to see what they thought, they said it looked like a normal moon to them, so I didn't go outside.