A full moon - sometimes called the corn moon in September - rises Thursday over the Campanile at Kansas University. The next full moon - the harvest moon - will rise on Oct. 6. The moon appears unusually large right now because its orbit is bringing it closer to Earth.

The full moon appeared a little brighter and bigger last night.

Maybe you noticed.

Because of a random – and rare – occurrence, the moon’s elliptical orbit put it 7 percent closer to the Earth at the same time as it was full, astronomers say.

“It might look a little bit brighter, a little bit bigger than average, but unless you are familiar with the sky, you probably wouldn’t notice it,” said Kansas University astronomer Bruce Twarog.

Because the moon’s orbit is not a perfect circle, it is called a perigee when the moon is closest to the Earth. The perigee happened to fall on this full moon cycle around 10 p.m. Thursday.

“It’s just a nice combination of things going on at the same time,” Twarog said.

Because of positioning related to the Earth, the moon also appears larger and closer to the horizon this time of year. The harvest moon – the full moon that is closest to the fall equinox – will not occur until Oct. 6, according to Larry Sessions at space.com.

Even though the moon appeared brighter and larger last night, astronomers say it should not have helped fuel the centuries-old myth that a full moon can cause strange human behavior.

“Every time people have tried to look at it in detail, there’s no correlation whatsoever,” Twarog said of the lunar myth.

So anyone who may have caused trouble last night can probably eliminate one line of defense.

“Bingo, no hope at all in blaming it on a full moon in the courtroom,” he said.