Tonight is a Full Moon and a perigee moon, when the moon is closest to the Earth. The moon is closer to the Earth than it has been for all of 2008.
This perigee full moon is brighter than at most other times. On the website
http://blogs.discovery.com/whats_up_astronomy/2008/12/the-big-bright.html
Alan Dyer says tonight the moon looks 14% brighter and 30% bigger than other full moons in 2008. He also mentions that perigee does not usually happen at the full moon. Maybe this is why the moon is so bright tonight. I really had to play with my camera settings to get a clear shot and many of the pictures were so bright it was difficult to see the moon's surface features.
On website
http://www.earthsky.org/skywatching/
the "Earth and Sky" science feature says this moon is larger and closer to the Earth than it has been since March 8, 1993 and it will be another 8 years before the moon is as close to the Earth again.
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