Is the Moon brighter at its closest point in its orbit to the Earth?

At perigee, the Moon is 356,400 kilometers from the Earth and subtends an angle of 33.53 arc minutes. At perigee, the farthest distance it is 406,700 kilometers away and subtends 29.38 arc minutes. The light source is the Sun, so that this difference in distance is negligible, but the increase in surface area makes the Moon bigger and smaller during its lunar cycle which makes it appear brighter and dimmer during the corresponding Full Moons. The Lunar perigees are as follows:

August 27.....     Full Moon....       358,777 km
September 24       First Quarter       363,053 km
October 22         First Quarter       368,349
November 16        First Quarter       369,459
December 13        New Moon            364, 237

The most recent, closest perigee was August 27, 1996. And the next one is February 7 1997 at 356,847. The next closest one of 356,654 km will not happen until December 22, 1999.
Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
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