The moon will be at perigee (the closest point in the moon’s orbit around earth each month) at precisely 11:37UT today, the closest perigee in 2009, orbiting roughly about 357, 298 kilometers from earth°. It will also be a full moon tonight (January 11th, 03:27UT), but that happens about 16 hours later. For those in the bay area (40° lat), the moon rises at 16:02, is completely full at 19:27, and then sets at 06:51 on Sunday morning.

That will make the moon appear almost 14% larger as it looms beautifully in the evening sky. It will also be a whopping 30% brighter, so if your looking through a telescope, use a filter to prevent eye fatigue. I’ll try and post some pics or video later this evening.

Plus, don’t forget venus which has been twinkling brightly in the west in the early evening; tonight at a distance of .71AU.

And if you ever want to know what’s in the sky, at anytime or anywhere on earth, check out the planetarium by paul neave.

°each month the shamptonian institute calculates this figure by multiplying the mean radius of the earth (6,371.0 km) multiplied by the true distance (as listed in the The Astronomical Almanac for the year 2009).