Friday, September 16th
- Full "Harvest Moon" Tomorrow
Night... The Wolf Moon, the Snow Moon, the Worm Moon, the Pink Moon, the Flower Moon, the Strawberry Moon, the Buck Moon, the Sturgeon Moon, the Harvest Moon, the Hunter's Moon, the Beaver Moon, and the Cold Moon. They're really all the same Moon, of course, but long before the advent of modern calendars people named the full Moons of a year to keep track of time. These fanciful names have been handed down through the generations and they are still a part of modern Moon lore. Tonight and tomorrow you can see the Harvest Moon. The Harvest Moon is no ordinary full moon; it behaves in a special way. Throughout the year the Moon rises, on average, about 50 minutes later each day. But near the autumnal equinox, which comes this year on Sept. 22nd, the day-to-day difference in the local time of moonrise is only 30 minutes. The Moon will rise around sunset tonight--and not long after sunset for the next few evenings. That comes in handy for northern farmers who are working long days to harvest their crops before autumn. The extra dose of lighting afforded by the full Moon closest to the equinox is what gives the Harvest Moon its name. In the southern hemisphere, this week's full Moon behaves in exactly the opposite way: there will be an extra long time between moonrises from one evening to the next. Presently, Earth is the only planet in our solar system where farmers rely on the light of a moon to help them complete their chores. But one day that could change. Centuries from now, humans might well till the fields of a terraformed planet Mars. Will Martian farmers enjoy a brilliant "Harvest Moon" like their counterparts on Earth? Try looking at the Moon tonight when it's rising in the east. You might notice something funny: the low-hanging Moon looks very big. This is a trick of the eye known as the "Moon Illusion." |
