Super washout?

Here I am again, talking about the moon. Today's the day for the phenomenon known as the Super Moon, and tonight's the night when we are supposed to see the moon at its closest approach to our Earth since 18 years ago.

According to astronomers, the moon's orbit around the Earth is not circular but eliptical. This means that on an average, the moon can be as far as 364,000 kilometres away from us or as near as 364,000 kilometres to us.

And astronomers also tell us that tonight - or today, whatever - the moon swings its closest to us since 1993 and a "mere" 357,000 kilometres will separate us. Mathematically, tonight's moon is supposed to be 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than the moon at its furthest distance. But as if we can really tell visually from Earth.

Moonrise at George Town, Penang will be at 7.05pm and the full moon will occur at 2.10am. But with our luck here in Malaysia, most probably we'll see nothing! The weather has been wet and it is raining almost every evening. How on earth are we going to see the moon under this condition? Even if it doesn't rain tonight, I think what we'll see is just a hazy, fazy blob of diffused light in the sky. So much for the super, duper moon, I say! But nevertheless, I'll still be keeping my fingers crossed.