NIGHT OF LUNACY? TUESDAY'S FULL MOON TO BE BIGGER, BRIGHTER.

Byline: Robert Monroe Staff Writer

In a rare celestial event, an exceptionally large, bright full moon will appear Tuesday night on the shortest day of the year - a confluence of events that last occurred together in 1866.

Between sundown Tuesday and dawn Wednesday, the full moon will seem 14 percent larger than usual and bright enough to cast shadows at night. That's the way it was that day 133 years ago when American Indians used the brilliant evening to launch a devastating ambush on U.S. troops.

During a 10-hour period starting with moonrise Tuesday at 4:15 p.m. the moon will be at its perigee, its closest point to Earth, at the same time the Earth will be at one of its closest points to the sun. It also will be the winter solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere experiences its longest night.

Because of the confluence of those events, the sun will bear down on the moon with greater intensity than normal and cause it to shine at its brightest since 1930.

Police and mystics said they expect this week's lunar confluence coming 10 days before the new century will spur more lunacy than typical during a full moon.

``We think everyone goes nuts and everything's bizarre,'' said Burbank Police Lt. Chris Welker, adding that she plans to warn officers at roll call to be especially on guard Tuesday night.

Personalities magnified

Wiccans, believers in the divinity of the sun and moon, say that just as the moon pulls ocean tides, it magnifies personality traits.

``If you're an idiot, you're a bigger idiot.''

Pat Devin of Covenant of the Goddess, one of the country's largest Wiccan organizations, added: ``It's going to be a very charged time. That's how I can put it.''

This coincidence has influenced history.

On the night of Dec. 21, 1866, the moon was so bright that Oglala Sioux used its light to stage an ambush of U.S. soldiers stationed at Fort Phil Kearny in the Idaho Territory. A large Sioux force killed all 80 soldiers who had been lured into chasing a small party of warriors in the midst of trying to defend a pack train of supplies. It became known as Fetterman's Massacre, the second worst such incident after Little Big Horn.

The astronomical events of a full moon, a moon at its closest point to Earth and the winter solstice occurred over a 20-hour period.

Sky and Telescope magazine said the the moon's perigee, solstice and a full moon have taken place in the same 24-hour period as recently as 1991, but this time they will occur within the shortest period on record.

Rare occurrence

Associate Editor Roger Sinnott said he checked records back to 1850 and never found an instance when the three events took place within 12 hours. Hawaiians, living two hours behind the West Coast, will have the best chance to see all three in the same night.

``This year's event certainly is the most unusual in the last 150 years,'' said Sinnott.

Griffith Observatory Director Ed Krupp expressed bemusement that the event is harnessing such attention. Even though the moon will be nearly 25 percent brighter than a ``normal'' full moon, it won't appear much different than last month's full moon, he said.

``It's just one of those minor congruences of phenomena that occur,'' Krupp said. ``If people feel like noting that, that's just fine.''

Brian Marsden, associate director for planetary sciences at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., said the moon will appear 14 percent larger than it did Dec. 8, when it was at apogee, or its farthest distance from Earth. Nonetheless, it's mostly just an annoyance for astronomers. A full, bright moon makes it harder for them to see the stars.

``We like it best when the moon isn't there,'' he said.

For the record, the moon will be 221,662 miles away from Earth when it reaches perigee at 3 a.m. Wednesday.

At 11:44 p.m. Tuesday, the Earth will be at maximum solstice, the point when Earth's tilt shifts the Northern Hemisphere at its farthest point from the sun.

At 9:31 a.m. Wednesday, the moon will be at its fullest point in the lunar cycle. Not to be forgotten, the Earth will be 12 days away from perihelion, the point when it is closest to the Sun.

What it means

All this will mean exceptionally high tides, said Stephen Edberg, an astronomer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Aside from that, it won't mean much. At least not on a professional level, he said.

``This is moderately extreme, but by no means unique and by no means the most extreme combination of alignments,'' Edberg said, ``but it's still going to be fun to see. I'll be looking.''

Police will not just be looking for weird crime, but more crime.

``Those lunar tide pulls seem to enhance the inclination of people to break the law.'' said Los Angeles Police Sgt. Lisa Phillips, adding that even average full moons rate a mention during roll call.

Raven Monauni, a witch who owns Raven's Flight, a shop in North Hollywood, said for people who worship both lunar and solar deities, the confluence is a special event, signaling the strength of the full moon with the re-emergence of the sun as days start getting longer.

``We are celebrating the rebirth of the sun and this amazing moon we're going to have,'' she said.

Devin finds it remarkable that the confluence should be happening at the eve of the millennium, when there is already a lot of energy in the collective unconscious.

``When you have this amount of people focusing on what they're hoping for, what they're fearing, it's likely to make it a more charged situation because they make it in their own minds and own spirits a special event.''

Devin had no specific predictions for what kinds of events might take place Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, beyond predicting the energy will be positive. In other words, no ambushes like that which befell Capt. William Fetterman and his troops in 1866.

``One wonders why you'd want to do an ambush when the moon is especially bright,'' said Alan MacRobert, another associate editor at Sky and Telescope.

But almanacs say nothing about other peculiarities that took place on especially bright full moon nights throughout history. Jan. 4, 1912, is the record holder for the moon's proximity to Earth. On that date, Earth's satellite came within 221,489 miles of us. In an irony to make astronomers vexed by the hype smile, Jan. 4 has also been declared Trivia Day.