Nearly full moon tonight!

I'm looking forward to clear skies and a nearly full moon tonight. The astronomical full moon is coming up on May 3rd, just 2 nights away, and the lack of cloud cover makes this a great opportunity.

We are probably all familiar with the different terms used to describe the phases of the moon, waxing meaning that the illuminated portion of the moon is becoming more visible, waning means that the illuminated portion becomes less visible, crescent moon meaning that there is just a sliver of the illuminated portion visible and gibbous moon meaning that nearly all of the illuminated portion of the moon is visible.

Despite these basic definitions, and the knowledge that I have that the moon isn't full tonight, I still think of a gibbous moon as nearly full, and I'm pretty excited for a chance at getting a clear shot of the moon.

Has anyone seen a good image of the moon lately?

How are the skies in your area?

I'm unlucky enough to be unable to see the stars too frequently in my climate, due to a combination of extreme weather and excessive cloud cover making it hard to go out to a dark field and see the moon, respectively.


I'll also include a quick illustration (from stardate.org) of how the moon's appearance changes based on the position of the moon relative to the earth and the sun.