May 5 “super moon” a spectacular sight

A full moon is spotted over the San Francisco Bay Area on May 5. (CALIFORNIA BEAT PHOTO)

The biggest and brightest full moon of 2012 is being spotted over most of the San Francisco Bay Area Saturday night, as it passes 15,300 miles closer to Earth than average.

For earthlings, the sight of the “supermoon” will be 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than typical full moons, astronomers estimate. 

The distance between Saturday’s supermoon and Earth is 221,802 miles. A side-effect of the perigee full moon, its astronomical name, is higher tides caused by gravity when the moon and the sun line up.

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