The biggest Full Moon
The apparent size of the Moon varies because the orbit of the Moon is elliptical, and as a consequence at one time it is nearer to the Earth (perigee) than half an orbit later (apogee). The orbital period of the Moon from perigee to apogee and back to perigee is called the anomalistic month.
The appearance, or phase, of the Moon is due to its motion with respect to the Sun. It varies in a period of time called a lunation, also called synodic month. The age is the number of days since new moon.
The ellipticity of the orbit also causes the duration of a half lunation to depend on where in the elliptical orbit it begins, and so affects the age of the full moon.
The full moon cycle is a cycle slightly less than 14 synodic months and slightly less than 15 anomalistic months, over which full moons vary in apparent size and age (time since new moon). Its significance is that when you start with a large full moon at the perigee, then subsequent full moons will occur ever later after the passage of the perigee; after 1 full moon cycle, the accumulated difference between the number of completed anomalistic months and the number of completed synodic months is exactly 1.
As of writing this page, next perigee Full Moon will occur on 2010-Jan-30 06:18 UT and will be the biggest since 1993-Mar-08. Next bigger Full Moon will occur on 2011-Mar-19.
Perigee Full Moons
BC 2 000 - AD 6 000
During eight millennium period, BC 2 000 - AD 6 000, the closest and farthest perigee full moons are given below.
Closest Perigee Full Moon: BC 1055-Nov-13 20:49 TT = 356,354 km Farthest Perigee Full Moon: BC 1227-May-02 18:15 TT = 357,628 km
Top 10 closest perigee full moons are given below.
BC 1055-Nov-13 20:49 TT = 356,354 km BC 0851-Dec-08 02:41 TT = 356,357 km BC 1400-Nov-17 21:36 TT = 356,361 km AD 0796-Dec-19 05:58 TT = 356,366 km AD 0451-Dec-24 06:23 TT = 356,367 km AD 0592-Nov-24 23:59 TT = 356,371 km AD 2257-Jan-01 13:18 TT = 356,371 km AD 0247-Nov-30 00:26 TT = 356,372 km BC 0506-Dec-04 02:01 TT = 356,373 km BC 1073-Nov-02 11:56 TT = 356,374 km
Perigee Full Moons during 21st century
Closest and farthest perigee Full Moons are listed below.
Closest Perigee Full Moon: 2052-Dec-06 07:19 TT = 356,426 km Farthest Perigee Full Moon: 2084-Jun-18 10:03 TT = 357,596 km
Below are listed perigee Full Moons for years 2001 to 2100. All times in Terrestrial Time. If there is an eclipse at any specific Full Moon, eclipse type is given: T - total; P - partial; N - Penumbral.
2001-Feb-08 07:13 356,992 km 2002-Feb-27 09:18 357,087 km 2003-Apr-16 19:37 357,306 km 2004-Jun-03 04:21 357,381 km 2005-Jul-21 11:01 357,288 km 2006-Sep-07 18:43 P 357,295 km 2007-Oct-26 04:53 356,838 km 2008-Dec-12 16:38 356,611 km 2010-Jan-30 06:19 356,607 km 2011-Mar-19 18:11 356,577 km 2012-May-06 03:36 356,955 km 2013-Jun-23 11:33 356,991 km 2014-Aug-10 18:10 356,896 km 2015-Sep-28 02:52 T 356,879 km 2016-Nov-14 13:53 356,520 km 2018-Jan-02 02:25 356,602 km 2019-Feb-19 15:55 356,843 km 2020-Apr-08 02:36 357,030 km 2021-May-26 11:15 T 357,461 km 2022-Jul-13 18:39 357,418 km 2023-Aug-31 01:37 357,341 km 2024-Oct-17 11:28 357,367 km 2025-Nov-05 13:20 356,978 km 2026-Dec-24 01:29 356,738 km 2028-Feb-10 15:05 356,721 km 2029-Mar-30 02:28 356,681 km 2030-May-17 11:20 357,029 km 2031-Jul-04 19:03 357,018 km 2032-Aug-21 01:48 356,886 km 2033-Oct-08 10:59 T 356,829 km |
2034-Nov-25 22:33 356,446 km 2036-Jan-13 11:17 356,529 km 2037-Mar-02 00:29 356,747 km 2038-Apr-19 10:37 356,902 km 2039-Jun-06 18:49 P 357,284 km 2040-Jul-24 02:07 357,192 km 2041-Sep-10 09:25 357,089 km 2042-Oct-28 19:50 357,094 km 2043-Dec-16 08:03 356,943 km 2045-Jan-03 10:22 356,918 km 2046-Feb-20 23:45 356,890 km 2047-Apr-10 10:37 356,840 km 2048-May-27 18:58 357,159 km 2049-Jul-15 02:31 357,101 km 2050-Sep-01 09:32 356,931 km 2051-Oct-19 19:14 T 356,831 km 2052-Dec-06 07:19 356,426 km 2054-Jan-23 20:09 356,511 km 2055-Mar-13 08:59 356,705 km 2056-Apr-29 18:33 356,831 km 2057-Jun-17 02:20 P 357,164 km 2058-Aug-04 09:39 357,025 km 2059-Sep-21 17:20 356,896 km 2060-Nov-08 04:19 356,878 km 2061-Dec-26 16:55 356,728 km 2063-Feb-13 05:50 357,151 km 2064-Mar-03 08:21 357,118 km 2065-Apr-20 18:38 357,059 km 2066-Jun-08 02:33 357,349 km 2067-Jul-26 10:01 357,244 km |
2068-Sep-11 17:21 357,033 km 2069-Oct-30 03:37 T 356,888 km 2070-Dec-17 16:08 356,463 km 2072-Feb-04 04:58 356,550 km 2073-Mar-23 17:19 356,719 km 2074-May-11 02:20 356,813 km 2075-Jun-28 09:49 P 357,103 km 2076-Aug-14 17:14 356,916 km 2077-Oct-02 01:23 356,760 km 2078-Nov-19 12:55 356,718 km 2080-Jan-07 01:47 356,566 km 2081-Feb-23 14:30 356,980 km 2082-Apr-13 01:48 357,271 km 2083-May-02 02:32 357,334 km 2084-Jun-18 10:03 357,596 km 2085-Sep-04 00:44 357,434 km 2086-Sep-23 01:18 357,188 km 2087-Nov-10 12:08 T 356,998 km 2088-Dec-28 00:60 356,552 km 2090-Feb-14 13:42 356,643 km 2091-Apr-04 01:34 356,787 km 2092-May-21 10:03 356,853 km 2093-Jul-08 17:17 P 357,100 km 2094-Aug-26 00:55 356,867 km 2095-Oct-13 09:33 356,682 km 2096-Nov-29 21:37 356,615 km 2098-Jan-17 10:39 356,461 km 2099-Mar-06 23:03 356,863 km 2100-Apr-24 09:47 357,106 km |