What time of year is the moon the closest to the earth?

Answer 1

The moon's orbit is an ellipse and every lunar month there is a perigee when the moon is at its nearest to us and an apogee when the moon is at its farthest point from us, 13 apogees and 13 perigees in a year, therefore. A fortnight or so apart from one another.

Perigees vary, as you can see below. The closest perigee of the year is October 26th. (not November 24th, as others claim above).

Here is the chart for 2007:

Jan 10 apogee: 404334 km
Jan 22 perigee: 366928 km

Feb 7 apogee: 404989 km
Feb 19 perigee: 361439 km

Mar 7 apogee: 405850 km
Mar 19 perigee: 357815 km

Apr 3 apogee: 406326 km **
Apr 17 perigee: 357137 km *

Apr 30 apogee: 406208 km **
May 15 perigee: 359392 km

May 27 apogee: 405456 km
Jun 12 perigee: 363777 km

Jun 24 apogee: 404538 km
Jul 9 perigee: 368533 km

Jul 22 apogee: 404150 km
Aug 3 perigee: 368891 km

Aug 19 apogee: 404620 km
Aug 31 perigee: 364173 km

Sep 15 apogee: 405644 km
Sep 28 perigee: 359419 km

Oct 13 apogee: 406489 km **
Oct 26 perigee: 356754 km ***

Nov 9 apogee: 406670 km ****
Nov 24 perigee: 357195 km *

Dec 6 apogee: 406234 km **
Dec 22 perigee: 360816 km

* near to closest perigee
** near to farthest apogee
*** closest perigee of the year
**** farthest apogee of the year

Answer 2

The moon has an elliptical orbit with the center of mass of the earth moon system at one of the foci. As such the moon experiences an apogee (most distant from the earth) and a perigee (closest to the earth) and so is closest to the earth once every lunar orbital period. The lunar orbital period is ~29.5 days long, so about 12-13 times/year the moon is 'closest' within a couple of percent.

Now, the sun plays a small role in this too...the moon will be closest of these close approaches when the moon is near full which will happen next on November 24th. That said it is only going to be 2-3% closer than it will be this Friday.

Answer 3

Crap! Can't we talk about MEANINGFUL stuff anymore?

What's the point of your question? Something happening in your life that's so critical that the Moon's proximity to Earth has a bearing on the outcome?

The Moon's perigee happens at different times each month. I suppose you could calculate an approximate date from the article below, but it's certainly too tedious and meaningless to just pick out a monthly date for perigee when the only significant occurance is the Full Moon.

OK -- from archives.

"Every month the Moon experiences a complete cycle of phases, from one new Moon to the next, in its so-called synodic cycle lasting 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes. As the Moon orbits the Earth in an ellipse it approaches and recedes from the Earth once every revolution. When the Moon is closest it is said to be at perigee, and the interval from one perigee to the next is called the anomalistic month, and this occurs every 27 days 13 hours 19 minutes. The point of perigee actually makes one complete prograde orbit every 8.85 years, so given these two lunar periods it follows that sometimes, though not very often, the date and time of the full Moon will very nearly coincide with the perigee Moon.


On the evening of 3 November [1998](and early hours of 4 November) the full Moon will be very near to lunar perigee - a spectacular combination that will give the viewer a sight of one of the largest Moons possible. Located in the constellation of Cetus the Whale, well south of the ecliptic, the Moon will have risen in the east by about 17:00 UT. The Moon will be nearly 34 arcminutes in apparent angular diameter, at a distance of around 352,500 km - amounting to just under 28 Earth diameters away. Saturn will be located just under 10 degrees to the west of the Moon, and the Moon culminates due south before midnight. This will be the best opportunity to observe the full Moon-perigee combination until 10 August 2014, so do make the most of it!"

Taken from a 1998 article. November 3, 1998 was one of the largest Full Moons ever seen. The next is coming in 2014. Satisfied?

Note to Charles: Yeah, it's the lousy chance I take everytime I contribute. Some nitwit takes off with the info half-****** and starts declaring a new Doomsday. Look out, Generation X'ers. Make way for Generation Doofus.

Answer 4

Like a number of the different solutions have pronounced, the moon's orbit isn't a circle, it somewhat is greater like an ellipse. each 27.fifty 5 days, the moon gets nearer and then farther from the Earth, and decrease back lower back. additionally, the moon isn't the closest it somewhat is been to Earth in 15 years - - - it somewhat is in basic terms that the completed moon is going on on an identical time because of the fact the moon is closest to the earth. this occurs certainly approximately each 18.6 years or so; it in basic terms occurs that the final time replaced into 15 years in the past. I say "greater like an ellipse" because of the fact the orbit isn't a appropriate ellipse. There are gravity consequences from Venus and Jupiter and the different planets, that make the moon's orbit somewhat distinctive from a genuine ellipse. i don't know what the guy who pronounced the the orbit isn't "one hundred% stabilized" skill. No bodily actual orbit repeats itself precisely, however the moon's orbit has limits that it will not go outdoors of (till the sunlight expands, in approximately 8 billion years).

Answer 5

Since the moon goes around the earth about 12.33 times a year while the earth involves 365 times a year, the closest approach is constantly changing.
The orbit is almost circular
Semi-major axis ~384 748 km
Distance at perigee ~364 397 km
Distance at apogee ~406 731 km
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbit_of_the_Moon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_calendar
"Since there are about twelve lunations (synodic months) in a solar year, this period (354.37 days) is sometimes referred to as lunar year, corresponding to thirteen sidereal months (355.18 days)."

Answer 6

There is no particular time of year when the Moon is any closer to the Earth. Each month, the Moon goes around its elliptical orbit, and racks up the same average distance from Earth, so there's no difference between one time of year and another.

Answer 7

The point in its orbit when it closesat to earth is call "perigee". Every month the moon does 1 complete orbit or revolution around the earth. So once every month the moon goes through its perigee.

Answer 8

The moon orbits the Earth once each month, and is at its closest and its furthest distance from Earth during that month.

At its closest (perigee) its 363,104 km from Earth's centre.
At its furthest (apogee) its 405,696 km from Earth's centre.

Answer 9

Gee, nrao_kid, did you have to include data about 2014? That will set off another round of "Will the world end 12/21/2012."

:)

HTH

Charles