The astronomers were looking forward to the moon being at perigee.

Now that the moon was at perigee, it was an ideal time to study it.

The point is called a perigee.

Perigee relates to the orbit of the moon. For example, perigee is defined as the moment when the moon is orbiting "closest" to the Earth. Apogee, the opposite of perigee, is when the moon is orbiting "farthest" away from the Earth.

The side of the orbit of the moon that is closest to the Earth is the lunar perigee.

its closer at perigee than at apogee.