Vesak Full Moon brighter, larger this year

Disna MUDALIGE

Vesak Full Moon this year would be larger and brighter than full moons of the past, Colombo University Physics Department's Senior Lecturer Prof Chandana Jayaratne told the Daily News yesterday.

He explained that this occurs not due to the moon being non-circular but due to its elliptical shape, the moon's orbit around the earth. He observed that this year's Vesak Poya Day had fallen on a day the moon travelled closer to the earth.

The closest distance of the moon to earth ("perigee") was about 50,000 km closer than the furthest distance ("apogee"). Full moons that occur on the perigee side of the moon's orbit seems extra large and bright. This kind of a full moon is called a "Supper Moon" or a "perigee full moon" he said. He observed that this Vesak Full Moon would be 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than other full moons of this year. He said that the moon lies only 356,955 km away from the earth today.

'There will be somewhat of a high tide on this day (today), but rumours such as earthquakes or other natural disasters were baseless," Prof Jayaratne said.

He said that on May 19, the moon would swing out to apogee ( its furthest point for the month ) at 406,448 km.