What Holds The Moon Up? Moonbeams.

The beams will buckle a bit tonight, as the moon will come very close to Earth.  Well, if you consider 211,600 miles away close.  Tonight's full moon will be a super "perigee" moon, the "biggest" since March, 1993.  (By the way, here are a few more kid-friendly moon jokes.)

According to NASA, the best time to view tonight's phenomenon will be in the early evening, when the moon is close to the horizon.

Full Moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the Moon's orbit. It is an ellipse with one side (perigee) about 50,000 km closer to Earth than the other (apogee): diagram. Nearby perigee moons are about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser moons that occur on the apogee side of the Moon's orbit.

The full Moon of March 19th occurs less than one hour away from perigee--a near-perfect coincidence¹ that happens only 18 years or so.

If you miss it tonight, you'll have to wait until 2029 to see another "Super Moon."