The full 'Snow micromoon' rises Feb. 5. Here's how to see it.

When it rises on Feb. 5, the full moon will appear smaller than average because it is at one of its most distant points in its elliptical path around Earth.

This positioning makes February's "Snow Moon'' a micromoon, a full moon that is visible when the moon is at one of its greatest distances from the planet. In astronomical terms, this is called apogee. According to EarthSky magazine(opens in new tab), the February micromoon will be 252,171 miles (405,830 kilometers) from Earth, compared with the average distance of 239,000 miles (384,400 km).

Though it's hard to tell without a side-by-side comparison, the full moon at apogee actually does look smaller than the full moon at perigee, its closest point to Earth. (These extra-close moons are colloquially known as supermoons.) From our perspective on Earth, the difference in diameter between a micromoon and a supermoon is 30%, according to the Universities Space Research Association