Harvest moon

The harvest moon is the moon at or about the period of fullness that is nearest to the autumnal equinox. The harvest moon is often mistaken for the modern day hunter's moon.

Appearance

All full moons rise around the time of sunset. However, although in general the moon rises about 50 minutes later each day, as it moves in orbit around Earth, the Harvest Moon and Hunter's Moon are special, because around the time of these full moons, the time difference between moonrise on successive evenings is shorter than usual which means that the moon rises approximately 30 minutes later, from one night to the next, as seen from about 40 degrees N. or S. latitude, for several evenings around the full Hunter's or Harvest Moons. Thus there is no long period of darkness between sunset and moonrise around the time following these full moons. In times past this feature of these autumn moons was said to help farmers working to bring in their crops (or, in the case of the Hunter's Moon, hunters tracking their prey). They could continue being productive by moonlight even after the sun had set. Hence the name Harvest Moon. The reason for the shorter-than-usual rising time between successive moonrises around the time of the Harvest and Hunter's Moon is that the ecliptic—the plane of Earth's orbit around the sun—makes a narrow angle with respect to the horizon in the evening in autumn.

Times of appearance

The Harvest Moon comes soon before or soon after the autumnal equinox. It is simply the full moon closest to that equinox. About once every four years it occurs in October (in the northern hemisphere), depending on the cycles of the moon. Currently, the latest the Harvest Moon can occur is on October 7.

In 2010, in the United States, the Harvest Moon happens on Sept 23.

Often, the Harvest Moon seems to be bigger or brighter or more colorful than other full moons. The warm color of the moon shortly after it rises is caused by light from the moon passing through a greater amount of atmospheric particles than when the moon is overhead. The atmosphere scatters the bluish component of moonlight (which is really reflected white light from the sun), but allows the reddish component of the light to travel a straighter path to one's eyes. Hence all celestial bodies look reddish when they are low in the sky.

The apparent larger size is because the brain perceives a low-hanging moon to be larger than one that's high in the sky. This is known as a moon illusion and it can be seen with any full moon. It can also be seen with constellations; in other words, a constellation viewed low in the sky will appear bigger than when it is high in the sky.

Other names

The Harvest Moon is also known as the Wine Moon, the Singing Moon and the Elk Call Moon. In American myth and folklore the full moon of each month is given a name. There are many variations, but the following list gives the most widely known names in the modern US:

January – Wolf moon,^[1] Hunger moon, Old moon
February – Snow moon,^[1] Ice moon
March – Worm moon,^[1] Sap moon, Sugaring moon, Crow moon, Storm moon
April – Pink moon,^[1] Egg moon, Grass moon, Rain moon, Growing moon, Wind Moon
May – Flower moon,^[1] Planting moon, Milk moon, Hare moon
June – Strawberry moon,^[1] Rose moon, Honey moon, Mead moon
July – Buck moon,^[1] Thunder moon, Deer moon, Hay moon
August – Sturgeon moon,^[1] Corn moon, Fruit moon, Barley moon
September – Harvest moon^[1] Gypsy Moon
October – Hunter's moon^[1]
November – Beaver moon,^[1] Frosty moon, Snow moon
December – Cold moon, Long Night moon,^[1] Winter moon

The third full moon in a season with four full moons is called a blue moon, as described in the Maine Farmers' Almanac. Until recently it was commonly misunderstood that the second full moon in a month was the blue moon. However, it was recently discovered by Sky & Telescope magazine and reported on NPR that the interpretation of a blue moon as the second full moon of the month was erroneously reported in an issue of Sky & Telescope dating back to 1946 and then perpetuated by other media.

In modern usage, when a second full moon occurs during any calendar month, it is called a Blue moon^[2].

In some cultures, individuals whose birthdays fall on or near a harvest moon must provide a feast for the rest of the community.

In popular culture

"Shine On, Harvest Moon" is the name of a popular early-1900s song credited to the married vaudeville team Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth. "Harvest Moon", another song, was composed by Neil Young (1992). In film, "Another Harvest Moon" [1] is a sensitive drama about four elderly Americans coping with life in a nursing home (2009). "Dancing at the Harvest Moon" [2] was a made-for-TV film a story of first love rekindled, when 46-year-old Maggie McIntyre loses her husband to another woman and returns to The Harvest Moon, the dance hall where she worked in college (2002). The Internet Movie Database [3] identifies more than a dozen "Harvest Moon" movies in the genres of horror, drama, romance, and musical.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l "Full Moon Names and Their Meanings". Farmers' Almanac. Almanac Publishing Co. 2007. Retrieved 2009-01-18. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help)
^ "What is a Blue Moon?". Farmers' Almanac. Almanac Publishing Co. Retrieved 2010-01-07. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help)

External links

Moon Illusion
Alternate names of the Full Moons.
Science page from NASA explaining the full moons.
"Who named the harvest moon?" Article

[famersalmanac-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l "Full Moon Names and Their Meanings". Farmers' Almanac. Almanac Publishing Co. 2007. Retrieved 2009-01-18. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help)

[famersblue-2] "What is a Blue Moon?". Farmers' Almanac. Almanac Publishing Co. Retrieved 2010-01-07. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help)

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