Why does 1**2**3**4**5 raise a MemoryError?

[morphex]

Hi.

I was just doodling around with the python interpreter today, and here is the dump from the terminal:

morphex at laptop:~$ python
Python 2.7.3 (default, Sep 26 2012, 21:53:58) 
[GCC 4.7.2] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> 1**2
1
>>> 1**2**3
1
>>> 1**2**3**4
1L
>>> 1**2**3**4**5
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
MemoryError
>>> 

Does anyone know why this raises a MemoryError?  Doesn't make sense to me.

Happy Easter!

-Morten