Incredible images of the biggest and brightest moon of the year

May 6, 2012

 

The full moon, the biggest and brightest of the year lit up the sky last night.

Tides were likely due to the super moon.

Experts say the moon appeared to 14 percent larger and brighter as it passes to221.802 milesof land, about15,300 miles closer than usual.

Its distance from the earth varies because it follows an elliptical instead of circular.

The phenomenon is known as the full moon in perigee (perigee is called the point of the elliptical orbit that crosses a natural or artificial body around the Earth), but astronomers warn that it is ‘relatively uncommon’.