266/365 Bright and beautiful

I noticed the incredible full moon this week before I started hearing about it on the news.

I get up at about 5:45 each morning for work, and on Wednesday or Thursday, I immediately noticed how bright the moonlight was.

It looked as though I could have driven to work in the glow, unaided by headlights, and would have been able to see just fine. The crisp, defined shadows cast by the light alone were amazing.

As it turns out, this is the biggest and brightest full moon we've had in 15 years. It has happened because of the moon's proximity to Earth at this point in its egg-shaped orbit. Full moons occur every month, but this one is especially spectacular.

I don't have an especially long zoom lens, but I nevertheless made sure I photographed it. (I did some generous cropping to get this close-up.)

Camera: Canon 40D 1/1000s, f/4.5 at ISO 400 at about 10:45 p.m.