Look out for the Harvest Full Moon tonight!
It is also called the Full Corn Moon. As both names suggest, this marks the time of year when crops are gathered in at the end of the summer. Before we had the ability to mark time on watches, clocks and devices, the Moon was a monthly calendar for our ancestors.
Various cultures gave the full moons a name that reflected their activities at specific times of the year. Next month is a Beaver Moon or Frost Moon.
Tonight’s moon is also a Supermoon, the first of three we will see before the end of 2025.
A Supermoon coincides with the moon’s closest point to Earth and is about 30% larger than a full moon that coincides with the furthest distance from Earth – its scientific term is a perigee full moon. A full moon that is furthest away is called a micromoon, which does not quite have the same drama! The correct term for this is an apogee full moon.
Also look out for the planet Saturn and later in the evening Jupiter.
Both are outer Solar System planets and gas giants, comprising an atmosphere of mostly hydrogen and helium gas. The weight of the atmosphere eventually compresses the hydrogen into a liquid state and then about halfway to the centre of the planet, the pressures are so great that liquid metallic hydrogen is formed.
The forecast for tonight should be quite clear.
Here is where to look:
For more information:
Follow the ‘Channel Islands Astronomy‘ Facebook page.
Jean Dean