Super bright moon dazzles night skies

A rose bush foregrounds the super moon, as seen from a point in Los Angeles at the weekend. During the so-called lunar perigree, the moon appears 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than other full moons during the year.

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InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

PARIS - A super-full and extra-bright moon dazzled the night skies this weekend as the lunar body swept along the low point of its elliptical orbit around the Earth.

The so-called lunar perigree brings the moon about 50,000 kilometres (30,000 miles) closer to the Earth than when it's at the farthest point of its oval orbit.

When a full moon coincides with this low point, as it did overnight from Saturday to Sunday, it appears especially bright and large, with observers often able to make out craters and other lunar features in clearer detail than normal.

NASA says the perigree full moon appears about 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than other full moons in 2012.

Super-full perigree moons occur about once a year on average.

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