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Tonight: Year's Biggest Full Moon, Mars Create Sky Show
National Geographic ^ | Jan. 29, 2010 | Andrew Fazekas

Posted on 01/29/2010 2:08:21 PM PST by La Enchiladita

The biggest full moon of 2010 will rise in the east tonight, and it'll appear with a bright sidekick: Mars will cozy up just to the left of the supersize moon.

January's full moon is also called the wolf moon, according to Native American tradition associating this month's full moon with wolves howling in the cold midwinter. (Take a moon myths and mysteries quiz.)

The 2010 wolf moon will appear 30 percent brighter and 14 percent larger than any other full moon this year, because our cosmic neighbor will actually be closer to Earth than usual.

The moon will be at its closest perigee—the nearest it gets to our planet during its egg-shaped orbit—for 2010 at 4:04 a.m. ET Saturday, reaching a distance of 221,577 miles (356,593 kilometers) from Earth.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalgeographic.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science; Weather
KEYWORDS: fullmoon; mars; moon; wolfmoon
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To: La Enchiladita

So funny you posted this, after dinner I was sitting in the living room and I could see the full moon through our drapes.. I commented on that to my husband..

I went and took one more look after reading this post...mars is its bright red self.. thanks for the info


41 posted on 01/29/2010 3:39:49 PM PST by RnMomof7 (Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.)
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To: La Enchiladita
Thanks Enchiladita! That's a great cut from "The Howlin' Wolf London Sessions" with Eric Clapton, Charlie Watts and Steve Winwood. I love blues, and Howlin' Wolf, Lightnin' Hopkins, Elmore James and Johnny Winter are among my very favorites.
42 posted on 01/29/2010 4:04:25 PM PST by VR-21 (Bring me my broadsword, and clear understanding. Bring me my cross of gold as a talisman.)
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To: who knows what evil?; FourPeas

On the other hand, balmy weather here in L.A. but hazy clouds to the east. Sun is setting fast, and I will hike to my viewing spot in a few.


43 posted on 01/29/2010 5:17:42 PM PST by La Enchiladita ( This must be what it feels like to live in a monarchy when some little kid becomes king ...)
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To: RnMomof7

The Red Planet... we may need to go live there.


44 posted on 01/29/2010 5:19:31 PM PST by La Enchiladita ( This must be what it feels like to live in a monarchy when some little kid becomes king ...)
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To: La Enchiladita

It sure was a whopper as it rose! Mars is up there too, good to know, wondered which planet that was.


45 posted on 01/29/2010 5:25:05 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Happy New Year! Freedom is Priceless.)
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To: La Enchiladita

Hi La Dita... so this should be at it’s closest point to us at around 1:00 AM?


46 posted on 01/29/2010 5:35:37 PM PST by antceecee (Bless us Father.. have mercy on us and protect us from evil.)
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To: messierhunter

For those of you who eschew metrics, that would be about:
506692913385795 inches


47 posted on 01/29/2010 6:08:54 PM PST by philetus (Keep doing what you always do and you'll keep getting what you always get.)
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To: La Enchiladita

No, but hope to relocate there eventually.

New Jersey.


48 posted on 01/29/2010 7:17:34 PM PST by tropical
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To: La Enchiladita
Never saw the moon last night, overcast in SW Ohio :-(

Nice photos on this thread, though.

49 posted on 01/30/2010 7:05:23 AM PST by Zuben Elgenubi
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To: Zuben Elgenubi; La Enchiladita

It sure did look bright and large the other night as it was waxing in the sky.


50 posted on 01/30/2010 7:11:51 AM PST by Canedawg (The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.)
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To: Zuben Elgenubi
appear 30 percent brighter and 14 percent larger than any other full moon this year

Total BS......I watched for that last evening, and then again pre-dawn this morning; NO "bigger and brighter" than 62 years of previous moon-watching these eyes have beheld.

51 posted on 01/30/2010 7:24:14 AM PST by ErnBatavia (It's not the Obama Administration....it's the "Obama Regime".)
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To: ErnBatavia

Well, if you are viewing from Mars of course the Earth’s moon would look about the same :-)


52 posted on 01/30/2010 7:38:52 AM PST by Zuben Elgenubi
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To: Canedawg; wheninthecourse; antceecee

Bummer... the clouds completely obscured (from West L.A.) the rising, which was the most dramatic part.... but later, as it lifted above @15-20 degrees, I could see clearly the moon with Mars directly to the left... was more interested in Mars at that point.

How was viewing in OC, Ceecee?


53 posted on 01/30/2010 11:58:22 AM PST by La Enchiladita ( This must be what it feels like to live in a monarchy when some little kid becomes king ...)
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