OCTOBERS FULL “HUNTERS” MOON - ALSO A “SUPER MOON”!

On the evening of the 17th of October into the morning of the 18th, we will hopefully be treated to views of a beautiful full moon, weather permitting of course. This October’s full moon will be an extra special full moon as it will be what is known as a ‘super moon’, appearing larger and brighter than usual. The October Full Super Hunters Moon will also be the 3rd of 4 Super Moons in 2024, not only this, it will be the closest to the Earth out of all 4 Super Moons making it appear even brighter and larger than any other full moon this year!

If you would like more information on this October’s full Super Hunters Moon, including what a full moon and super moon is, why it is known as the Hunters moon, when and where to look to find the moon, plus other celestial treats to look out for, please read on…

A full Moon occurs when its position in its orbit around Earth is at its furthest distance from the Sun (almost on the opposite side of the Earth compared to the Sun). When this happens, the side of the Moon that can be seen from Earth is completely illuminated, giving it the appearance of being full.

October’s full moon is what we call a super moon and will be the third of four super moons this year.

The term super moon is the more popular way of referring to an astronomical event known to scientists as perigee-syzygy. This describes the confluence of two events:

Perigee, when the moon is at its closest to Earth along its orbit of our planet (at least 90% perigee means the moon constitutes as a super moon) in fact the moon will be only around 357,000 km away from Earth at the point of perigee-syzygy.

Syzygy, when the Earth, Moon and Sun are aligned making the Moon fully illuminated (a full moon).

During a super moon the Moon will appear brighter and larger than an average full moon. On average, super moons are said to be about 7% bigger and about 15% brighter than a typical full Moon. According to NASA, a super moon will appear up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than the smallest full moon (when the Moon is at apogee, it’s furthest distance away from Earth).

October’s full Super Moon will also be the closest to Earth of all 4 Super Moons in 2024 making it appear even brighter and larger than any other full moon this year!

Often full Moon names derive their names from Native American traditions, which typically gave distinctions to the Moon based on the time of the year, the weathers relationship to crop harvests and the appearance of certain animals. The Native Americans would keep track of time by observing the seasons and Lunar months. These names were often passed down through the generations and these names were traditionally applied to refer to the entire lunar month. Some sources suggest that this month’s full Moon name has origins as early as the 700’s found in Germanic and Anglo-Saxon literature. Either way, the importance of the Hunters Moon is very much the same for people across the Northern Hemisphere.

The Full Moon for the month of October is particularly special as it is the first full moon to fall after the autumnal equinox (whereby the day and the night are roughly the same length) and is often called the Hunters Moon. Like September’s Harvest Moon, the Hunter’s Moon rises around the same time for several nights in a row, so start looking for it from this evening!

Some sources suggest that other names for the Hunter’s Moon are the Sanguine or Blood Moon, so named because the time between now and Samhain/Halloween was called ‘The Harvest of Flesh’. It was often associated with the blood from hunting or the colour of the changing autumn leaves. Other names for the full moon include; The Dying Grass Moon, The Drying Rice Moon, The Falling Leaves Moon, The Shedding Moon, The Freezing Moon and The Migrating Moon.

This month the full Moon will reach max illumination (100% illuminated) at 12:57pm on the 17th of October, the Moon will be below the horizon at this point in time. The Moon will rise on the evening of October the 17th at roughly 17:45 in the East-Northeast, it will reach its highest point in the sky (aka transit) about 50 degrees high at around 01:12 on the morning of the 18th of October in the South and will set in the West-Northwest at roughly 09:07.

Remember that you don’t really need to know the exact time of peak illumination to enjoy viewing the full Moon, the Moon will appear full all throughout the night and on the nights surrounding the peak.

On the night of the 17th of October, our natural satellite can be found be hitching a ride in the zodiacal constellation of Aries the ram.

The moon can more specifically be located nearby to the stars Sheratan of Aries the ram, and Alpherg of Pisces the fishes.

The great thing about observing the Moon is that we don’t have to go and find a particularly dark location to view it. As the Moon is such a bright object in the sky, we can watch it from wherever we are, even from the centre of a heavily light polluted city. Weather permitting of course.

It's always lovely to watch the moon rise/set, so if you can head out to witness the moon rise, please do. Every time the moon rises it takes on a beautiful golden, amber colour and appears larger at this time too, due to an optical illusion known as the ‘Moon illusion’. It's truly special to witness. As it rises and glides overhead it’s colour will transition into a bright white.

Sometimes the Moon can appear even more orangey red than usual too! The hue of the moon typically depends on atmospheric conditions wherever you’re viewing it from. Things like clouds, dust, haze, smoke or pollution can cause the moon to appear different colours by scattering much of the blue light shining on to our natural satellite, leaving it with a more reddish tone.

There are many other celestial treats in our night skies at this moment in time, here is a small selection of amazing sights to look out for:

- There are several meteor showers active at the moment including the Southern Taurids and the Orionids. This means that you may have a chance of seeing some meteors (aka shooting stars) blaze across the night sky.

- The beautiful open star cluster the Pleaides (aka the Seven Sisters) can be found in the zodiacal constellation of Taurus the bull.

- The autumn Milky Way in all its glory can be seen stretching all the way across the sky. The moonlight will make the Milky Way difficult to see whilst producing so much light, however it's certainly something to look out for at this time of year, especially when the moon is not brightening our skies.

- Our closest galactical neighbour, the amazing Andromeda Galaxy can be spotted to the eye as a small faint elliptical fuzzy in the constellation of Andromeda.

- We are now back into in the Aurora season! The Aurora may now be seen dancing on our Northern horizons on nights of strong auroral activity. Typically, the bright Moon tends to wash the aurora out, however occasionally there are displays that are so strong they are visible despite the moonlight.

There are a few bright planets visible at the moment too…

- The amazing ringed planet Saturn can be found in the constellation of Aquarius the water bearer. Saturn will rise in the daytime at around 17:01 in the East, reaching transit towards the South about 27 degrees high at around 22:16 and will set in the west at around 03:31.

- The gas giant Jupiter will be visible in the constellation of Taurus the bull rising at around 20:11 in the North East. Jupiter will be easily visible shining very brightly at magnitude -2.59. Jupiter will climb in the sky travelling towards the South where it will reach transit about 58 degrees high at around 04:35. Jupiter will then begin to descend Westwards and will fade from view in the morning twilight.

- The red planet Mars will also be visible in the constellation of Gemini, rising at roughly 22:29 in the North East. Mars will climb in the sky travelling towards the South where it will reach transit around 58 degrees high at about 06:54 in the morning twilight. Mars will fade from view not long afterwards.

This month’s full Super Hunters Moon is quite a special occasion, so if you can, we recommend heading out to witness this very special full Moon!

We have attached one of our photographs of the Moon, a still showing the placement of the Moon and a size comparison of the Moon at apogee (micro moon) and perigee (super moon).

We wish you good luck if you head out to see this special Super Moon folks. Please wrap up warm if you do. As always if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Clear skies 💖

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