Waters asked:
When will we see the Harvest Moon in 2012?
And the answer is … tonight! Over the years, we’ve seen lots of informal uses of the term Harvest Moon. Some people will call all the full moons of autumn by that name. And so they should. In autumn, the time of moonrise is close to the time of sunset for several evenings in a row, around the time of full moon. It’s as if there are several full moons during each autumn month.
So for example the moon you might have seen last night (September 28) looked very full and round in the sky. Did you call it a full moon? Did someone say it was the Harvest Moon? It probably looked like one!
Moonrise over the mountain in North Woodstock, NH. from EarthSky Facebook friend North Woodstock, NH.
Astronomers are scientists, though, and it’s no surprise that, to them, the term “full moon” or the name “Harvest Moon” means something very specific. To astronomers, the Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the September equinox, and full moon comes at the instant when the moon is 180o from the sun in ecliptic (or celestial) longitude.
In 2012, this equinox takes place on September 22. The closest full moon to the autumn equinox reaches the crest of its full phase on September 30 at 3:19 Universal Time. That means the moon turns exactly full for us in the continental U.S. before midnight tonight, on Saturday, September 29. By U.S. clocks, that’s 11:19 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, 10:19 p.m. Central Daylight Time, 9:19 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time or 8:19 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time.
Day and night sides of earth at the instant of full moon (2012 September 30 at 3:19 Universal Time) Image credit: Earth and Moon Viewer
No matter where you live worldwide, however, you’ll see a full-looking moon shining from dusk until dawn tonight. It’ll rise in the east around sunset, climb highest up around midnight and will set in the west around sunrise. At the vicinity of full moon, the moon – as always – stays out all night long. Is tonight’s moon the Harvest Moon. Sure!
Why are the full moons so special in autumn? Around the time of the autumn equinox, the ecliptic – or the path of the sun, moon, and planets – makes a narrow angle with the horizon at sunset.
Moonrise over Smoke Lake, Algonquin Park, Ontario, Huntsville Canada, from EarthSky Facebook friend Adam Falardeau.
Every full moon rises around the time of sunset, and on average each successive moonrise comes about 50 minutes later daily. But, on September and October evenings – because of the narrow angle of the ecliptic to the horizon – the moon rises much sooner than the average. So, instead of rising 50 minutes later in the days after full moon, the waning moon might rise only 30 minutes later, or less, for several days in a row (at mid-northern latitudes). At far northern latitudes – like at Fairbanks, Alaska – the moon rises about six minutes later for days on end.
That fact was important to people in earlier times. For farmers bringing in the harvest, before the days of tractor lights, it meant there was no long period of darkness between sunset and moonrise for several days after full moon. And that meant farmers could work on in the fields, bringing in the crops by moonlight. Hence the name Harvest Moon.
At our mid-northern latitudes, watch for the Harvest Moon to shine from dusk until dawn for the next few to several days, starting tonight. Enjoy the 2012 Harvest Moon!
