AMATEUR ASTRONOMY:

MOLLY MISSES THE HARVEST MOON:

I had meant to blog on this matter two days ago when, at 4:13 am CDT the full moon called the 'Harvest Moon' reached its peak fullness. Ah, but many things intervened; so here it is now.

The Harvest Moon is defined as the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox which we come next Monday, September 22 this year. The Harvest Moon may come either before or after the equinox, and about once every four years it occurs in October rather than September. This often leads to confusion with the following 'Hunters' Moon', and the two actually share a similarity.

The reason the Harvest Moon is so called is that, while the Moon usually rises about 50 minutes later each night at the time of the equinox this day to day duration is shortened. For instance this year, as per the Time and Date website, moonrise was at 7:30 pm on September 15th, the day of the Harvest Moon, while today, on the 17th, it is 8:05 pm here in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In other words only a 15 minute difference from day to day (the difference is longer the further south you go). This means that there is a lesser period of absolute darkness between sunset and moonrise at this time of year and that harvest activities could be resumed by moonlight well into the night after the Sun had set.

The Harvest Moon also has a few other tradition names, including the 'Wine Moon' , the 'Singing Moon' and the 'Elk Call Moon'. In any case the Harvest Moon is reputed to confer the blessing of the Norse trickster god Loki for a plentiful harvest. So, no tricks now, have a happy Fall, and more on the upcoming autumnal equinox soon.

AMATEUR ASTRONOMY:
THE MOONS OF 2008:
Welcome to the "Full Wolf Moon'. That's the name of tonight's full Moon. Well not exactly, because the exact time of this, the first full Moon of 2008, was at 7:35 am CST (8:35 am EST/1:35 pm UT)this morning. Still the Moon tonight is for all intents and purposes "full". Each of the full Moons of the year has traditional names. Most are from eastern Algonquin language group native tribes, but some are from the early European settlers. The following is a list of the Moons of 2008, arranged by date. Exact times are given in CST/EDT and UT in the first and last parts of the year and in CDT/EDT and UT when daylight savings time applies. To convert from these times to your own time zone see the Time and Date website. For an extensive guide to things lunar, including all the phases of the Moon, and prominent lunar features as well as an on-line lunar map see Space.Com's Moon Guide.
1)Jan 22 (7:35am CST/8:35am EST/1:35pm UT): The Full Wolf Moon was, of course, named for the hungry wolves that roamed outside of native villages in the depths of winter. Some tribes called this the 'Full Snow Moon', though most applied this name to the following full Moon. Europeans called this the 'Old Moon' or the 'Moon After Yule'.
2)Feb. 20(9:30pm CST/10:30pm EST/3:30am Feb 21 UT). Known as the 'Full Snow Moon, this was the ,month when snow was usually the heaviest in eastern North America. Because of the snow hunting becomes difficult, and some tribes referred to this full Moon as the 'Full Hunger Moon'. As Molly mentioned earlier on this blog this will be the night of a full lunar eclipse. Stay tuned for more details.
3)March 21 (1:40 pm CDT/2:40pm EDT/7:40pm UT). In the east of North America (though not here in Winnipeg) this is the month when the ground begins to thaw and the first earthworms appear. Hence the name the 'Full Worm Moon'. In the northern parts of the east the tribes knew this as the 'Full Crow Moon' when the crows begin to put up an increasing racket as spring approaches. It was also know as the 'Full Crust Moon' for the way that the freezing and thawing cycle gives a extra "crustiness" to the surface of the snow. Yet another name is the 'Full Sap Moon' when the temperatures and the freeze/thaw cycle makes it possible to begin tapping maple trees for sap.
Last year's first lunar eclipse happened on this Moon, on March 3rd. In Christian chronology this is also the Paschal Full Moon(the first full Moon of spring). Easter is dated as the first Sunday following the Paschal Moon, and this year this will fall on March 23rd. This will be the earliest Easter since 1913. Last year Easter was on April 8th.
4)April 20 (5:25am CDT/6:25am EDT/11:25 UT) This is known as the Full Pink Moon, from the colour of ground phlox, one of the earliest wildflowers in eastern North America. There are a number of other native names for this Moon, the 'Full Sprouting Grass Moon', the "Egg Moon" and, in coastal areas, the 'Full Fish Moon' when fish return to the rivers to spawn.
5)May 19 (8:11pm CDT/9:11pm EDT/2:11am May 20 UT) This is known as the 'Full Flower Moon' for obvious reasons. It was also called the 'Full Corn Planting Moon' and the 'Milk Moon'. The Moon will come to its apogee a mere 12 hours after the time of this full Moon, and thus this will seem to be the apparently smallest full Moon of the year (about 12.3% smaller than the largest, that of December 12).
6)June 18 (12:30pm CDT/1:30pm EDT/6:30pm UT). The 'Full Strawberry Moon'. Known to the Europeans as the 'Rose Moon'.
7)July 18 (2:59am CDT/3:59am EDT/8:59am UT) This is the approximate time when the first antlers begin to appear on male deers in the east. Also know as the 'Full Thunder Moon' because of the frequency of thunderstorms this time of year. Called the 'Full hay Moon' by some Europeans.
8)August 16 (4:16pm CDT/5:16pm EDT/10:16pm UT) Called the 'Full Sturgeon Moon' by tribes living near major bodies of water because this i9s the time of year when fishing for this species is the best. Also known as the 'Full red Moon' because evening haze often gives a reddish tone to the rising Moon this time of year. Other names include the 'Green Corn Moon' and the 'Grain Moon'. This Moon will have a partial lunar eclipse this year, visible from Europe, Africa and western Asia. Last year there was a second total lunar eclipse on August 28th, visible in the western part of North America.
9)Sept. 15 (4:13am CDT/5:13am EDT/10:13am UT). This will be this year's 'Harvest Moon'. this title is given to the full Moon that occurs closest to the Autumnal Equinox. Usually the Moon rises about 50 minutes later each night, but near the equinoxes it only rises 25 to 30 minutes later in the USA and 10 to 20 minutes in Canada. This means that there is extra moonlight to work on the harvest on several days near to this full Moon.
10)Oct. 14 (3:02 pm CDT/4:02pm EDT/9:02pm UT). This is known as the 'Full Hunters' Moon'. As the leaves are shed and grass begins to wilt prey animals can be seen and tracked more easily.In addition many animals have fattened up for the winter. Thus the best time of the year to hunt.
11)Nov. 13 (12:17am CST/1:17am EST/6:17am UT) The 'Full Beaver Moon' was traditionally a good time to trap beaver before water bodies froze for the winter. Beavers at this time of year are particularly active in making final preparations for winter. This full Moon has also been called the "Frosty Moon'.
12)Dec. 12 (10:37am CST/11:37 EST/4:37 UT). Some tribes called this the 'Full Cold Moon' and others called it the 'Full Long Nights Moon'. the reasons for both names are obvious. Europeans often referred to it as the 'Moon Before Yule'. On this day at 10:00pm UT the Moon will be at perigee (its closest approach to the Earth), and thus this will appear as the apparently largest full Moon of the year.
Sorry folks, no Blue Moon this year.

HARVEST MOON TODAY:

AND EQUILUX TOO:

Today is the day of this year's Harvest Moon. The exact time of the event is when the Moon reaches the spot in the sky where it is precisely opposite the Sun. This will occur at 19:45 Universal/Greenwich time today (7:45 pm). This will be 14:45 (2:45 pm) here in Central Daylight Time. To find the timing for your own time zone see the Time and Date website.

All of the full moons of the year have popular names that differ from place to place. See HERE, HERE and HERE for three different lists. Other names for the Harvest Moon include the Wine Moon, the Singing Moon, the barley Moon, the Fruit Moon and the Elk Call Moon.

The Harvest Moon is the most common name. The Harvest Moon is defined as the full moon that falls closest to the Fall Equinox which occurred three days ago on September 23rd. This moon can actually occur earlier than the equinox, and in about one year out of four it occurs in October. This happened last year but will not occur again until 2011.

The popular belief that the Harvest Moon stays in the sky longer than other full moons is false. But farmers traditionally did have more time to work by moonlight at this time of year. This is because of the variation in time of moonrise from day to day as the seasons change. Usually the Moon rises about 50 minutes later each day. When the Moon is, however, travelling in the sky near the path of the ecliptic, as it does in September, October and November, the day-to-day difference is foreshortened. The effect depends upon latitude. The further north you are the shorter the daily difference between moonrises. In Miami, for instance, the Moon rises an average of 37 minutes later from day to day at this time of year. At the latitude of Edmonton, Alberta, however, the average difference is only 12 minutes. This meant that on successive nights during the harvest season that farmers would indeed have more time to work the fields by moonlight on each day of the harvest. The same is true for the next moon of the year, usually known as the Hunter's Moon. In the southern hemisphere the situation is reversed, and the Moon rises more than 50 minutes later from day to day at this time of year.

The Harvest Moon is also neither brighter nor of a different colour than other full moons of the year. People who go out early to observe moonrise around the time of the Harvest Moon may be fooled by what is known as the 'Moon Illusion' into thinking that the Harvest Moon is bigger. Any moon, or any other sky object for that matter, always looks bigger when it is near the horizon. This is despite the fact that it occupies exactly the same angular diameter in the sky. The difference in size is a trick of perception rather than any real physical effect. Similarly the rising Harvest Moon is no redder than any other rising Moon. Refraction of light due to Earth's atmosphere gives all objects near the horizon a reddish hue. Think of the rising or setting Sun.

As mentioned previously on Molly's Blog (See 'Welcome to Autumn' last weekend) today is also the day of the equilux. This is the time when daylight and nighttime are most exactly equal. There will be another such day next spring. Til then...

FULL MOON TONIGHT:
This night the Moon will be full at 8:04 Winnipeg time, 1:05 June 1st GMT. Molly is impatient to get back to her Moon tour from previous months, but Molly has seen the Moon only three times in the past two weeks. The Winnipeg Environment Canada people say that we have only had one clear day in that time, but a couple of other nights have been at least semi-clear, though the lunar view was quite obscured. Hopefully I'll be able to put something up here in the next few days as the weather report says clear conditions for this weekend.