The Moon As A Mirror

Scientists are planning to use NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to observe next month's historic transit of Venus across the sun's face -- but there's a twist: Researchers can't point Hubble anywhere near the sun, because our star's bright light could damage the telescope's super-sensitive instruments. So Hubble will watch the June 5-6 Venus transit by using the moon as a mirror. The goal is to see if Hubble can determine ...

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“Super Moon” 2012

Because of slight variability in its orbit, this perigee is the closest of all the perigees this year for the Earth's satellite. That means a "super moon" that will appear ~14% larger and ~30% brighter (because it's ~47,000km closer than its apogee, or furthest point away from Earth). The result is a grand, golden orb. Make sure you go outside tomorrow night for a bit and enjoy it, it will be the brightest of 2012! The Moon will reach perigee at 11:34 p.m. EDT (0334 GMT on Sunday). One minute later, it will line up with the Earth and the Sun to become full.