|
Indiana. Our hearts go out to Sandy's victims. Read more about Sandy here.
• It'll look like a full moon on the night of October 30, 2012, but, technically speaking, it'll be a waning gibbous moon that's shining near the Pleiades star cluster on this night. You should be able to pick out the dipper-shaped Pleiades with the eye alone, even in the moon's glare, but, if you can't, try binoculars. If you look later at night, you'll also find a very bright object nearby. That's the planet Jupiter, and the moon will snuggle up even more closely with this blazing world tomorrow night. In this post, we talk about seeing the moon on the day after Hunter's Moon, and about the phenomenon of minor lunar standstill, which lessens the noticeable seasonal effect of autumn full moons.
• Last night - October 29 - the moon was closer to full. The Northern Hemisphere's full Hunter's Moon came on October 29, lighting up the nighttime from dusk till dawn. The Southern Hemisphere also saw this October full moon on the night of October 29, but it's springtime in that part of the world. The seasonal attributes of a Harvest or Hunter's Moon can only come in autumn, from either hemisphere. A springtime full moon has different characteristics. So the Southern Hemisphere has its Harvest and Hunter's Moons around March, April or May.
• By definition, a full Hunter's Moon is the full moon following a full Harvest Moon. And the Harvest Moon is the closest full moon to the autumnal equinox. Harvest and (Continued on page 19)
|
|
