Full Moon Rising Saturday Night

There’s a full moon rising Saturday night, one so big and so close you might be tempted to reach out and touch it. Not quite though. While it’s close, it’s still 220,864 miles from Earth.

“Watching the full moon rise is always a beautiful thing,” said Kevin D. Conod, plantearium manager and astronomer at the Newark Museum Dreyfuss Plantearium. 

On Saturday night, it promises to be just a little bit more, a super "perigee moon" – the biggest in almost 20 years. "I'd say it's worth a look," said Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.

The weather is expected to be clear for the full moon rising. It doesn’t matter where you view it, just set your sights on the eastern horizon at 7:28 p.m., Conod said.

And despite claims it's a bad moon rising, well that's just talk, he said.

"There’s a lot of hype surrounding the event," Conod said. “Some people are claiming that because the moon is closer it can cause big earthquakes or volcanic eruptions, which isn't true. This full moon is only about 2% closer than average.”

No trouble on the way, but definitely a rare beauty.