Nature Done Wright

      If weather permits, and that is a huge "if," tonight’s (Thursday night’s) full moon will be the biggest and brightest of the year.

   The reason is simple.

   The moon has an elliptical orbit, with one side 30,000 miles closer to the Earth than the other.   

   Tonight’s moon — which will be 99.9 percent full at 12:52 a.m. — is at the closest point in the orbit, "making it appear as much as 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than lesser full moons we’ve seen this year," as the Web site spaceweather.com explains.

   The great thing about full moons is they are a lot more dependable and a lot easier to see than meteor showers — once again, if weather permits.

   You don’t have to wait up until after midnight to see the moon.

   If the weather cooperates, it will be plenty bright all evening, and nearly full tomorrow evening as well.

   The October full moon is called the hunter’s moon, or in some Native American circles, the leaf falling moon.

   To find out when the sun and moon and rise and set in our area, try this Web site:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=861&month=10&year=2007&obj=sun&afl=-11&day=1

   Note, too, that the site can tell you just how full the moon will appear on any night.

   P.S.: Amazingly, the sun will set and the moon will rise at exactly the same minute on Friday night: 6:01 p.m.

   Bergen Community College Physics Professor Roger Opstbaum, who founded the college’s amateur astronomy program, says that while sunset and moonrise occur at similar times only around full moons, to have them occur the same minute is still quite unusual.