Tomorrow night's full moon, the Snow Moon, will rise in the east at about the same time the sun sets in the west. The moon is in the zodiacal constellation Leo, a constellation we associate mostly with spring.This moon is a small moon. The moon will be at apogee or close to it, which means it is farthest from the Earth than most times.

The moon's orbit around the Earth is not a perfect circle. Sometimes it is close, closest is perigee. Sometimes it is farthest, apogee. The moon will be in apogee on Sunday.

We've seen a term being used on the Internet that is new to us. The full moon is being called a "mini moon."

Can you tell that it is smaller? It is hard. It seems every full moon rising over the ocean in the East is big moon.

Leap Day

We get an extra day this year, February 29. Normally we are used to February only having 28 days. This is special and it is all astronomical. The Earth orbits the Sun and makes its annual trek in 365.25 days, which translates to 365 days a year, plus eight hours. It is that precise. Every fourth year we accumlate those hours and pile them up on Leap Day. If anyone ever asks you "if you've got a moment," you might find it this year.