Posted: Sat, 19 Mar 2011 12:00 AM - 14,158 Readers

By: Paige Austin

Having made it's closest pass by Earth in 18 years, the moon will appear nearly 30 percent bigger tonight.

Is that a bird? Is that a plane? No, it’s a supermoon!

If the rain doesn’t put a damper on the party, tonight is the night to wrap a warm blanket around your shoulders and head outside for a glimpse of the moon at it’s biggest and brightest in 18 years.

Ok. It’s not really bigger and brighter, but it will look 14 percent brighter and nearly a third bigger because it will just have made its closest pass by Earth in 18 years.

The moon’s orbit around the Earth brings it as close as 221,567 miles away at perigee and as far as 252,000 miles at apogee.

The moon will seem largest as it rises on the horizon tonight.

However, the National Weather Service is predicting a cloudy skies and a chance of rain tonight, So locals may have to wait several years to catch a closeup of the moon.