Winter Solstice Moon

**E*@aol.com**

FYI -- Historic Moon! A friend of mine who's interested in astronomy sent me 
this and I thought it was worth sharing. Happy holidays!
Ann English

Moon of the Century

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 occurs in conjunction with a lunar perigee (point in the
moon's orbit that is closest to Earth), 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 mutating. If the weather is clear and there happens to be a
snow cover where you live, the ambient light level will be very high.

On 21 Dec 1866, the Lakota Sioux took advantage of this combination of
occurrences and staged a devastating ambush on soldiers in the Wyoming
Territory.

In laymen's terms it will be a super bright full moon, much brighter
than 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 it again.

I hope each of you gets to enjoy this special season greeting
compliments of Mother Nature.

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