Micro Moon on Wednesday Night

A micro moon occurs when a full moon coincides with the Moon's approach to its Apogee Credit: (Perigee v Apogee) Galileo Project, NASA

This month's full moon, arriving on Wednesday night, will be what is sometimes called a mini moon or micro moon.

Although the moon itself remains the the same size all year round, the distance between the moon and Earth can vary up to a difference of 26,466 miles.

At the moon's closest point to Earth (Perigee) it appears around 4% larger than at it's furthest point (Apogee).

This January's full moon reaches it's furthest point from Earth during the early hours of Thursday 16th January UTC. This is going to be the closest a full moon has been to its exact time of apogee since November 1994, and it won't be as close again until 2052.

So what will it look like? Well, like a full moon (if you manage to see it through patchy cloud and clear spells) - it will appear just that little bit smaller than usual and a little less bright.

The next notable full moon coinciding with the Perigee (sometimes known as a 'Supermoon') is due August 10th 2014.

Source: Universe Today