Two images of the full moon at apogee (left) and perigee (right). Perigee represents the point in the orbit of the moon when it is closest to Earth,apogee representing the furthest point in orbit from Earth. At right,on January 8,1974 the moon was closest to Earth (364,700 km) at 11 hours Universal time (UT),2 hours before being full. 21 lunar months later,on September 20,1975,the moon passed apogee (42,000 km further away) at 7 hours UT,5 hours before being full. In addition to a change in apparent size from 34 arc minutes (right) to under 30 arc minutes (left),the images show a different lunar face due to libration. Photographed at the 48-inch prime focus of a modified Jaeger 3 1/4 inch refracting telescope |