Starry Eyed Surprise

On December 11 and December 12, whatever you do LOOK up! Not because the sky is falling, Chicken Little. Because on that night the moon will be big. Really, really big. In fact, bigger than its been in 15 years.

In a marvelous chain of coincidences, according to Rural Life Magazine, December's full moon lands on the very day the moon comes closest to Earth. Such alignments happen infrequently, says the mag, since the 29.5-day cycle of lunar phases don't march in step with the 27.5-day interval between the moon's close scrapes with earth.

But there's an extra wrinkle: the moon's orbit not only rotates, it changes shape! Sometimes it's more circular; other times it becomes unusually elongated. This month the orbit distorts to maximum eccentricity. The result? The Man in the Moon will pass barely 216,000 miles from Mother Earth.

I think I'm going to stretch to my maximum eccentricity too. Seems like a good idea.

Fly me to the moon, let me see the stars...