Full moon over Barn Bluff

The Largest and Brightest Full Moon of 2009: The Wolf Moon

Last night (Saturday, January 10, 2009), we witnessed the largest and brightest full moon of the year. This month's full moon is known as the Wolf Moon in Native American folklore. January's full moon is also called the Old Moon and the Snow Moon.

A full moon rises right around sunset, no matter where you are. This occurs because the moon and the sun are on opposite sides of the Earth during a full moon, allowing sunlight to hit the full face of the moon and reflect back to our eyes.

At moonrise, the moon appears even larger than it does later in the night when it's higher in the sky. Scientists can't fully explain this illusion, but some believe it has to do with our perception of things on the horizon versus overhead.

This photo was taken at 5:06 pm with the following settings: f/3.2, 1/320 sec, ISO 1250, -1.67 EV, 70 mm focal length, handheld. I used levels to bring some details back into the image without destroying the polarized sky and applied a very modest amount of unsharp mask.