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First Full Moon Of 2010 Tonight: Biggest & Brightest Wolf Moon

by amyellensoden | January 29, 2010 at 11:13 am

2265 views | 65 Recommendations | 8 comments

Tonight, January 29 2010, the biggest and brightest full moon of 2010 will be visible in the night skies. Tonight also marks the first full moon of the 2010 year. The biggest and brightest full moon is called a "supermoon" by some experts. The first full moon in the new year is commonly known as the wolf moon. The full moon will reportedly be closer in orbit than usual, given the early time of year.

Within each orbit the moon has, there is a point called perigee where the moon has reached the closest point to the Earth. When perigee coincides with a full moon once or twice a year, the effect is a full moon that is brighter and bigger than any other full moon visible for the rest of the year.

The moon is, on average, 238,855 miles (384,400 km) from Earth. The moon's orbit around Earth – which causes it to go through all its phases once every 29.5 days – is not a perfect circle, but rather an ellipse. One side of the orbit is 31,070 miles (50,000 km) closer than the other.

So in each orbit, the moon reaches this closest point to us, called perigee. Once or twice a year, perigee coincides with a full moon, as it will tonight, making the moon bigger and brighter than any other full moons during the year.

This occasion also marks the first full moon of 2010. The first full moon is known as the wolf moon. This title comes from Native American culture. The full moon name changes with each month, but represents the idea of a wolf howling at the moon in the night sky.

According to spaceweather.com, tonight's wolf moon will be 30% brighter and 14% wider than any other full moon in 2010. Mars should also be visible tonight just to the left of the full moon. Anyone with clear skies should have strong visibility and a clear view of the biggest and brightest full moon of 2010.

The moon will be at its closest perigee—the nearest it gets to our planet during its egg-shaped orbit—for 2010 at 4:04 a.m. ET Saturday, reaching a distance of 221,577 miles (356,593 kilometers) from Earth.

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Yuliya Talmazan

at 12:06 on January 29th, 2010

Cool. I will be looking out for that!

Spydermonkey

at 12:45 on January 29th, 2010

I spent about 20 minuts looking at the moon last night

while I was soaking in the hot tub..

Too bad it will be wet & cold tonight....

Jessica Tucker

at 14:00 on January 29th, 2010

Great coverage, Amy! I really hope we get to see it...

Jessica Tucker

at 14:03 on January 29th, 2010

Did anyone else notice the 'lenny' clouds in that photo???

Sputnic

at 14:17 on January 29th, 2010

Yes, there appear to be giant 1s in the sky !

158

at 14:26 on January 29th, 2010

Thanks for a good story and picture.

Mary Richard

at 15:24 on January 29th, 2010

Check out the FULL MOON tonite at 9 - you just might see MARS. Video

RIck in Maryland (not verified)

at 08:16 on January 30th, 2010

Too bad its going to be snowing agian tonight. We've already had several deep snowstorms this winter. We had one a couple weeks ago that put 28 inches on my back deck. This is looking like its going to be a fairly deep one too! I havn't seen this much snow since back in the early 90's. Too bad... the moon was really pretty last night.