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>This year will be the first full moon to occur on the winter >solstice, Dec. 22, commonly called the first day of winter, >since a full moon on the winter solstice occurred in conjunction with a >lunar perigee (point in the moon's orbit that is closest to >Earth)for 133 years. The moon will appear about 14% larger than it >does at apogee (the point in it's elliptical orbit that is farthest >from the Earth) since the Earth is also several million miles closer >to the sun at this >time of the year than in the summer, sunlight striking the moon is >about 7% stronger making it brighter. Also, this will be the closest >perigee of the Moon of the year since the moon's orbit is constantly >deforming. If the weather is clear and there is a snow cover >where you live, it is believed that even car headlights will be >superfluous. > >On December 21st. 1866 the Lakota Sioux took advantage of this >combination of occurrences and staged a devastating retaliatory >ambush on soldiers in the Wyoming Territory. > >In laymen's terms it will be a super bright full moon, much >more than the usual AND it hasn't happened this way for 133 years! > >Our ancestors 133 years ago saw this. Our descendants 100 or >so years from now will see this again. this should be a test case for measuring how much effect the moon at max gravity pull on us causes. perhaps the coyotes will have a howl! if we have noticeable effects, we could indicate what we experience. -- Ron Vetter 1936, '84 PD dz mailto:[log in to unmask] http://www.ridgecrest.ca.us/~rfvetter