highlighted by a lunar marvel.

The winter solstice, which is scheduled to coincide with the full moon today, will showcase not just any ordinary full moon.

At its closest point to the Earth, the moon will be at what is called a Lunar Perigee.

It will look to be about 14 percent larger than it usually does in the night sky.

Edward McGonagle, acting president of the Astronomical Society of Bermuda, said: "This should prove to be a very nice evening.

"The moon will be at one of the dozen closest distances in 500 years.

"The group will probably meet to view the event if weather permits. However we are not geared to accommodate a lot of people in a special event geared to the public.

"People should have a look at the phenomenon on their own.'' "The full moon will be on South Shore,'' he added. "Though astronomically the event of this full moon is not necessarily a big deal, people can view it in combination with the Christmas lights and photograph it.

"There should also be an extra high tide that evening due to the gravitational pull the moon will exert on the Earth.'' The sun's path across the sky is called the ecliptic.

The moon, whose path is similar to the other planets, can be five degrees above or below the ecliptic. It appears higher or lower in the sky accordingly. This year, the moon will be as low as ten degrees below the ecliptic.

"This will put it on the lower side, and in combination with the high tide should prove quite a spectacular sight,'' Mr. McGonagle said.

Ten days later, at the Earth's Perihelion or closest point to the sun, the moon should appear at least seven percent brighter than normal.

These are the events as they will occur at Eastern Standard Time: Winter Solstice will be at 2:44 a.m. on December 22; The moon will be at Perigee (221,614 miles from Earth) at 5.55 a.m. on December 22; and Full moon will be at 12.31 p.m. on December 22.

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