Moon to reach closest distance to earth on Feb. 8

The Korea Astronomy Observatory (KAO) announced Sunday that the moon will reach its closest distance to earth this year on Feb. 8, the day after Jongwol Daeborum (the first full moon day on the first month of the lunar year, which falls on Feb. 7 this year). At only 356,457 km, the distance between the earth and moon that day will be 26,943 km, much closer than its usual 383,400 km.

The full moon on that day will thus appear about 7% larger than on Feb. 7 and 13% larger than the full moon on this year`s Chusok, or Korean Thanksgiving Day, which falls on Oct. 1."

The moon will make its closest approach to earth at 4:11 p.m. next Thursday, but will not be clearly visible in Seoul until after 6:00 p.m. This full moon is forecast to set at 7:00 a.m. on Feb. 9.