Our Moon reaches perigee, (closest to Earth), for this orbit, on Wednesday February 3rd. At that time the Moon will be at a distance of 28.8 Earth diameters, 229,986 miles (370,127 km) from the Earth.
Before sunrise on the date of the perigee Moon the 20.4-day old waning gibbous Moon and will be about 7-8o from the star Spica in Virgo the Harvest Maiden.
Does our Moon actually go around the Earth as this graphic shows? From our perspective on the Earth the Moon appears to circle around the Earth. However, in reality, the Moon orbits the Sun together with the Earth*
*Click here to read my Scope on the Sky column “The Real Shape of the Moon’s Orbit”. (PDF)
Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to go to bobs-spaces.
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