Bigger, brighter and closer than your average moon

THOUSANDS of Irish spectators were out on the streets to celebrate a rare sight at the weekend, but for once it had nothing to do with sporting achievement.

As large sections of the population basked in the glorious victory over England in the Six Nations match on Saturday, a similar number of sky-gazers were marvelling at an equally impressive event.

Known as a “super-moon”, on Saturday night the earth’s closest neighbour reached its nearest point to this planet for almost 20 years.