EYES TO THE SKIES FOR SEPTEMBERS VERY SPECIAL FULL “HARVEST” MOON – ALSO A “SUPER MOON”, AND ALSO A PARTIAL LUNAR ECLIPSE!🔭💙🌕✨ - 17-18/09/24
On the evening of the 17th of September into the morning of the 18th, we will hopefully be treated to views of a beautiful full moon, weather permitting of course. This September’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. Not only this, September’s full Moon will also partially enter the Earth’s umbral shadow and undergo a very special partial lunar eclipse!
A partial lunar eclipse is quite a rare occurrence and a super partial lunar eclipse even more so! So we recommend those of you who can, please take a moment to witness this very special full moon.
If you would like more information on this September’s full Super Harvest Moon plus partial lunar eclipse including what a full moon, super moon, and partial lunar eclipse is, why it is known as the Harvest moon, when and where to look to find the moon, plus other celestial treats to look out for, please read on…
WHAT IS A FULL MOON?
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.
WHAT IS A SUPER MOON?
September’s full moon is what we call a super moon and will be the second 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).
WHAT IS A PARTIAL LUNAR ECLIPSE?
A lunar eclipse is a rare occurrence which happens when the Earth travels between the Sun and the Moon, casting a shadow on the surface of the Moon.
A partial lunar eclipse is when a portion of the Moon enters the Earth’s shadow. A total lunar eclipse happens when the Moon completely enters the Earth’s shadow.
The Earth’s shadow has two components, a weak outer shadow called the Penumbra and an inner solid shadow called the Umbra. When the Moon travels into the penumbral shadow, the Moon undergoes a slight decrease in brightness that is not very apparent to the eye. When the Moon travels into the umbral shadow, there is an obvious shadow cast upon its surface.
During the partial lunar eclipse on the 18th of September, a small portion of the Moon will enter the Earth’s umbral shadow.
SEPTEMBERS PARTIAL LUNAR ECLIPSE
This months full Moon will undergo a partial lunar eclipse early in the morning on the 18th of September, during the partial lunar eclipse you will be able to see a small section of the Moon being shaded by the Earth.
Although the eclipse will be visible to the eye, it will be more apparent and look more impressive to those with binoculars or a telescope.
The eclipse will begin at 01:41BST when the Moon will start to enter the penumbral shadow. At this moment in time the Moon will be located 32 degrees high towards the South. As the Moon slowly enters the penumbra and moves towards the umbra, it will decrease in brightness very slightly.
At around 03:12, the Moon will begin to enter the Earth’s umbral shadow. At this moment an obvious shadow will be cast onto the surface of the moon. Following the start of the umbral eclipse, the Moon will continue to slowly move further into the umbral shadow. The moon will travel to it’s furthest point within the umbra - reaching greatest eclipse at around 03:44. At this moment in time around 8.5% of the diameter and 3.5% of the total surface will be within the Earth’s umbral shadow. At greatest eclipse the Moon will be 24 degrees high towards the South-west.
After reaching greatest eclipse the moon will slowly travel out from the umbral shadow. The Moon will leave the umbral shadow and the umbral eclipse will end at around 04:15. Following the end of the umbral eclipse the Moon will slowly leave the penumbral shadow, slowly becoming brighter until it leaves the penumbral shadow. The penumbral eclipse will end at around 05:47 in the dawn twilight around 10 degrees high towards the West-south-west.
THE HARVEST MOON
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 Harvest Moon is very much the same for people across the Northern Hemisphere.
This month’s full moon is particularly special as it is the full moon which falls nearby to the autumnal equinox (whereby the day and night are roughly the same length). The Full Moon closest to the Autumn equinox is often known as the Harvest Moon. This sometimes occurs during October, however this year it occurs during the month of September.
As the farmers prepared to gather their crops each autumn, they looked to September’s full Moon as a sign that it was time to harvest. At the end of September, crops that were seeded in Spring are now ready to be harvested. It is the final harvest of the year, so crops, fruit and grain such as corn, pumpkins, squash, beans, and wild rice are harvested and stored to last through the winter months.
At the peak of the harvest, farmers can work late into the night by the light of this Moon. Unlike other moons, this full moon rises at nearly the same time (around sunset) for several evenings in a row, giving farmers extra evenings of moonlight to gather their crops before the frosts of autumn arrive.
SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION FOR THE MOON’S RISE TIMES AROUND THE HARVEST MOON
Typically, the Moon rises around 50 minutes later each day, but around the time of the Harvest Moon, the Moon rises only around 20 minutes later. The reason for this is because of a combination of the Earth’s rotation and the Moon’s orbit around the Earth.
The Moon appears to travel along a path along the night sky called the Zodiac. The Zodiac is usually at a fairly steep angle in comparison to the Earth’s equator and our visual horizon, however, around the time of the Harvest Moon, the Zodiac’s angle is much closer to the Earths equator. This almost being in line together, gives the effect of the Moon rise time being more similar for a few days around the time of the Harvest Moon.
The further North you are the more pronounced this effect is. At the opposite end of the year, around March’s Worm Moon the effect is the opposite, with the Moon’s rise times being at their most different between days.
We will include a diagram that should help you understand this.
OTHER ALTERNATIVE MOON NAMES
Other names attributed to this full moon are often attributed to the time of year (late Summer into early Autumn), such as the Autumn Moon (Cree), the Falling Leaves Moon (Ojibwe), Leaves turning Moon (Anishinaabe), Moon of Brown Leaves (Lakota), Yellow Leaf Moon (Assiniboine), the Corn Maker Moon (Western Abenaki) and Corn Harvest Moon (Dakota).
The behaviour of animals is also a common theme, with Child Moon (Tlingit) referring to the time when young animals are weaned, and Mating Moon and Rutting Moon (both Cree) describing the time of year when certain animals, like moose, elk, and deer, are looking to mate.
WHEN AND WHERE WILL THE FULL MOON OCCUR?
This month the full Moon will reach max illumination (100% illuminated) at either side of the partial lunar eclipse at around 01:41 and 05:47 on the 18th of September. The Moon will rise on the evening of September 17th at roughly 19:10 in the East, it will reach its highest point in the sky (aka transit) about 31 degrees high at around 00:52 in the South and will set in the West at roughly 06:54.
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.
WHERE IN THE SKY CAN THE MOON BE FOUND?
On the night of the 17th of September, our natural satellite can be found be hitching a ride in the zodiacal constellation of Pisces the fish.
The moon can more specifically be located just below the head of the right hand fish in Pisces, and also just left of the bright ringed planet Saturn.
LUNAR OBSERVATION
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.
MOON RISE/SET – MOON ILLUSION
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.
OTHER CELESTIAL TREATS
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 minor meteor showers active at the moment including the Southern Taurids and the September Perseids. This means that you may have a chance of seeing a meteor or two blazing across the night sky
- The open star cluster the Pleaides (aka the Seven Sisters) can be found close by to the planets Mars and Jupiter.
- The summer 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.
- The great globular cluster in Hercules can be seen to the eye as a small faint ball of light in the constellation of Hercules.
- 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 ringed planet Saturn can be found very close by to the Moon, located at around 7 degrees to the right of the Moon. Saturn will rise just before the Moon at around 19:00 in the East, reaching transit towards the South about 28 degrees high at around 00:21 and will set in the west at around 05:40.
- The gas giant Jupiter will be visible in the constellation of Taurus rising at around 22:07 in the North East. Jupiter will be easily visible shining very brightly at magnitude -2.37. Jupiter will climb in the sky travelling towards the South and will fade from view in the morning twilight.
- The red planet Mars will also be visible fairly close by to Jupiter in the constellation of Gemini, rising at roughly 23:12 in the North East. Just like Jupiter, Mars will climb in the sky travelling Southwards until it fades from view in the morning twilight.
CLOSING WORDS FROM ASTRO DOG
This month’s full Super Harvest Moon and partial lunar eclipse 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 Partial Lunar Eclipse 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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