The brightest moon in almost 69 years lit up the sky in a treat for star watchers around the globe on Sunday and Monday nights, including at the North Georgia Astronomical Observatory on the University of North Georgia’s Dahlonega campus. But did the media hype meet reality? The moon orbits the Earth in an oval shape and is brightest this week because it is coming closer to the Earth along its elliptical orbit than at any time since January 1948.