A "super Moon" will light up Saturday's night sky in a once-a-year cosmic show, overshadowing a meteor shower from remnants of Halley's Comet, the U.S. space agency NASA said.

The Moon will seem especially big and bright since it will reach its closest spot to Earth at the same time it is in its full phase, NASA said.

The Moon "is a 'super Moon,' as much as 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than other full Moons of 2012," it said in a statement.

The scientific term for the phenomenon is "perigee moon." The Moon follows an elliptical path around Earth with one side, or perigee, about 31,000 miles closer than the other, or apogee.

The Moon will reach perigee at 11:34 p.m. EDT (0334 GMT on Sunday). One minute later, it will line up with the Earth and the Sun to become full.

The last perigee Moon was on March 19, 2011, when it was about 250 miles closer than Saturday's.

A perigee full Moon can bring tides that are higher than normal but only by an inch or so (a few centimeters). The effect can be amplified by local geography, but only by about six inches.

The light from the perigee Moon will wash out all but the brightest fireballs from the springtime Eta Aquarid meteor shower, NASA said. From 40 to 60 meteors from the shower normally can be seen each hour.

The Eta Aquarid meteors make up the debris trail of Halley's Comet, which passes by Earth every 76 years.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/05/us-usa-moon-idUSBRE84409Y20120505

Very cool. I'll be out there with my camera.

I think it'd rather see a comet shower than a big old stinky moon

Well a little too late. Thought EDT was EST but it's not. One hour forward. Guess I'll know for next time (if there is one).

I've tried to get decent moon shots with my 7D so many times and have never been successful, maybe tonight will be the night.

I watched it come up over the horizon. It was nice, but not spectacular.

The supermoon back in 2011 wasn't all that great either.

I took some crappy pictures of it with my phone. Though I gotta say, the grainy phone pic quality in the darkness, zoomed a little, does look kinda cool as a phone background lol. Framed it between two tall cyprus (I think?) trees.

It may not be that big, but if you're outside of the city, it's very bright.

Yeah, saw it last night, it was really bright.

And again. Missed it. Oh well, I have time yet to see it.