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Da Night Sky
There was a lunar eclipse the night of July 4. I didn't hear about it in advance, and didn't notice anything different about the moon that night except that it was remarkably full.
But last night the still-almost-full moon formed an almost equilateral triangle, maybe two degrees on a side, with Jupiter and Saturn, both of which (being in the same direction as the full moon) are near inferior opposition and thus as bright as they ever get. And the Earth happens to have been at aphelion, the farthest it ever gets from the Sun, on July 4, which means we're ever-so-slightly closer to Jupiter and Saturn than we would have otherwise been, making them (let's see...) 1.6% brighter than if this same conjunction had happened when we're at perihelion.
But last night the still-almost-full moon formed an almost equilateral triangle, maybe two degrees on a side, with Jupiter and Saturn, both of which (being in the same direction as the full moon) are near inferior opposition and thus as bright as they ever get. And the Earth happens to have been at aphelion, the farthest it ever gets from the Sun, on July 4, which means we're ever-so-slightly closer to Jupiter and Saturn than we would have otherwise been, making them (let's see...) 1.6% brighter than if this same conjunction had happened when we're at perihelion.