Perigee full moon

Last night the moon was at it's closest point to the earth, due to it's elliptical orbit, and it was also a full moon. Evidently that's an infrequent event. This graphic shows the orbit, although the comparative sizes or the earth and moon are not accurate - they would be much smaller.

Here is how the size of the moon appears when photographed with the same lens, when it's near and far away.

My brother Paul took this fine photo of the Perigee Moon last night.

We saw it from our house, too.

One side of the moon always faces the earth. The other side is exposed to space, and never seen from the earth. Humans got their first look at the other side in the 60s, when we sent lunar orbiters around to take photos. The far side looks totally different from the earth facing side.

I think the far side gets hammered by space debris, while the side facing earth is somewhat protected. Or perhaps it has something to do with how the gravity of the earth affects the geology of the moon. I like the far side of the moon. It's wild and scary. Aged and wizened.  Gazing out beyond.