The moonrise on Saturday, March 18, 2011, was more than just a full moon. The moon that stunned night sky watchers that weekend is known as a super perigee, a rare celestial event that occurs when our moon reaches the closest possible point of its orbit around the Earth. The perigee moon is seen in this photograph from NASA as it rises near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The last time, previous to this, a full moon was seen this close to Earth was in March 1993.
