Friday perfect for dancing in the moonlight ( or for shifting)

It won't be your imagination if the moon looks bigger and brighter Friday night, like "a cosmic flood lamp."

NASA says the moon will appear up to 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter.

Every few years, a full moon coincides with the point in the satellite's elliptical orbit that brings it closest to the center of the Earth. Friday night, the moon will be fully illuminated just four hours after reaching that point, according to a feature story on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Web site.

The moon will appear up to 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than "lesser full moons we've seen earlier in 2008," NASA says -- provided it is being viewed in a clear sky.

At the moon's closest approach -- the orbital perigee -- it is about 30,000 miles (48,000 kilometers) closer to Earth than at the other extreme -- the apogee -- the space agency says.

The full moon, as always, will seem largest when it is near the horizon, as it rises and sets, "but it's really just an optical illusion," said NASA spokesman J.D. Harrington.

When the moon shines directly overhead, he said, it's hard to tell the difference in size.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/12/12/full.moon/index.html