Welcome to another wild and wonderful episode of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! Those who follow astronomical events with interest may be aware that last month's full moon was the perigee moon. What does that mean? Read on:
Perigee:
Perigee comes from the Greek words peri ("around" or "near") and geo ("earth").
The full moon of March 19th coincided with the point in the moon's orbit that is nearest the Earth, causing the moon to appear unusually large.
This "perigee moon" occurs because the moon's orbit is oval in shape, bringing the moon closer to the Earth on one side than on the other. A full moon on the opposite end of the elliptical orbit – the "apogee" side – would be 50,000 km farther from the Earth and appear 14% smaller than a full moon on the perigee side.
"perigee", http://www.merriam-webster.com/trend-watch/2011/03/24/
3/29/2011
Example: The perigee moon rose huge and beautiful in the clear night sky.
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