On Saturday night the moon was closer to the earth than any other time in the last 18 years. Scientists estimated the moon would appear 30 percent brighter and almost 15 percent bigger than other moons when they rose. It was hard to see here in Phoenix because of the heavy cloud cover.
Full moons rise when the sun sets, and they vary in size. The orbit of the moon is oval, the closest point is called the perigee, the farthest point is called the apogee.On Saturday, the moon was about 221,565 miles away — the closest to Earth since March 1993.
Huge moon, rising between palms.
My photograph of the moon was uninspired–I have the simplest of cameras. If you look closely, you can see the moon rising over the roof of a house and between palm trees.
But I wanted to remember this huge full moon. I decided to create a journal page that made the moon seem both far away and close.
Moon perigee and apogee.
On the left side, the moon is in reverse–a black moon on a white page. Floating across the moon are some shreds of clouds. On the other side, there is a black sky and a big gold moon. Floating across the moon is a translucent and dyed piece of non-woven fabric–dryer sheet.
What interesting for me is that the moon on the left looks smaller than the one on the right. And yes, the one on the left is the cut-out portion of the one on the right, so they are exactly the same size. The surrounding colors make the difference. I love how the brain doesn’t always tell you truth, even if you see it with your own eyes.
–-Quinn McDonald is a writer, creativity coach and book artist.
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