Today is the #WinterSolstice in the northern half of the planet. It will occur in just over an hour’s time at 09:20Z, marking the start of #Winter, accompanied by the #LongestNight. Meanwhile, the other side of the #Earth is half a year out of phase and will mark the start of #Summer on their #SummerSolstice and the #LongestDay. By coincidence, the Earth is near #Perigee at this time of year, being its closest to the #Sun. in its very slightly #EllipticalOrbit. Actual pergee will occur on 4 January 2025.

March 10: Moon reaches perigee

The #moon will reach #perigee – its #closest point in its elliptical orbit around #Earth – at 7 UTC (1 a.m. CDT) on March 10, 2024, when it’s 221,763 miles (356,893 km) away. High tides are possible.

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury/

I missed #Earth's #Perigee this year. It was two days ago, 20:07Z on 6 July.

Moon’s perigee & apogee 🌝

🌎 Every month, the Moon’s orbit carries it to #apogee – its most distant point from the Earth – and then, some two weeks later, to #perigee – the Moon’s closest point to the Earth in its monthly orbit.

📏 Its distance varies by 14%, between about 356,500 km at the closest approach to the Earth and about 406,700 km at the furthest point from it.

👇️ Approximate size comparisons of the Full Moons during an apogee and perigee, around apogee, the Full Moon appears slightly smaller than at other times. Vice versa, our natural satellite’s full phase looks a little bit bigger close to perigee.

📆 The next apogee is very close — the #Moon will reach it on September 19, 2022, and the last perigee was just on September 7.