NASA: full moon this Mid-Autumn Day extremely big

Full moon in the sky over St.Louis, Missouri on October 6

The full moon this Mid-Autumn Day is 12 per cent bigger than in other months, and presented a good opportunity for observation, said NASA.

The moon orbits the earth in an ellipse. The period of rotation and revolution for the moon are both 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, and 11.5 seconds. Watching from the USA, the moon has just arrived at its perigee, and appears extremely big this Mid-Autumn Festival, said NASA.

Space.com also said that this kind of full moon on Mid-Autumn Day is also known as a harvest moon, because on this day the moon is bright enough for farmers to harvest their crops through the night.

By People's Daily Online