car lights won't be needed? did your ancestors see this? Dick Stewart Date: Thursday, December 16, 1999 5:33 PM Subject: Fwd: FULL MOON LAST FULL MOON OF THE MILLENNIUM ***WOW*** !!! Everyone - mark your calendar! This will be the last lunar hurrah of the millennium. This year a full moon will occur on the winter solstice, Dec. 22, commonly called the first day of winter. Since a full moon on the winter solstice occurs in conjunction with a lunar perigee (point in the moon's orbit that is closest to Earth), the moon will appear about 14% larger than it does at apogee (the point in its elliptical orbit that is farthest from the Earth). Since the Earth is also several million miles closer to the sun at this time of the year than in the summer, sunlight striking the moon is about 7% stronger, making it brighter. Also, this will be the closest perigee of the moon of the year since the moon's orbit is constantly deforming. If the weather is clear and there is snow cover where you live, it is believed that even car headlights will be superfluous. The last time this occurred, was on December 21, 1866. The Lakota Sioux took advantage of this combination of occurrences and staged a devastating retaliatory ambush on soldiers in the Wyoming Territory. In laymen's terms it will be a super bright full moon, much more than usual, AND it this hasn't happened for 133 years! Our ancestors saw this 133 years ago! Our descendants 100 plus years from now will see this again! Hope you enjoy!