The bigger-than-usual size of a moon seen near the horizon is something else entirely. It stems from the fact that – when you look toward the horizon – you’re looking through a greater thickness of Earth’s atmosphere than when you gaze up and overhead. The orange color of a moon near the horizon is a true physical effect. It’s the location of the moon near the horizon that causes the Harvest Moon – or any full moon – to look big and orange in color. After sunset around the time of any full moon, the moon will always be near the horizon. And many people look for it shortly after sunset around the time of full moon. That’s because the Harvest Moon has such a powerful mystique. Still, in any year, you might think the Harvest Moon looks bigger or brighter or more orange. But it’s not so big that you’d notice its bigness, with the eye alone. So 2022’s Harvest Moon is on the big side. In 2022, the Harvest Moon falls just a few days after lunar perigee, the moon’s closest point to Earth for the month, on September 7.
Even supermoons – the closest and therefore biggest full moons – aren’t noticeably bigger (although they are noticeably brighter).
But the changing size of full moons from month to month isn’t noticeable to the eye. If you could measure it, you’d find that some full moons are relatively small in our sky, and some are relatively big. Bigger? Brighter? More colorful?īecause the moon’s orbit around Earth isn’t a perfect circle, the full moon’s distance from Earth – and apparent size in our sky – differs from month to month. So there is no long period of darkness between sunset and moonrise. The narrow angle of the ecliptic means the moon rises noticeably farther north on the horizon from one night to the next. Why does this happen? Check out the illustrations below: In autumn, the ecliptic – marking the moon’s approximate path across our sky – makes a narrow angle with the evening horizon. The moon will rise during or near twilight on these nights, presenting dusk-till-dawn moonlight for several nights in a row around the time of the Harvest Moon. But it means that, in the nights after a full Harvest Moon, you’ll see the moon ascending in the east relatively soon after sunset. The difference between 50 minutes and 25 minutes might not seem like much. For instance, at Anchorage, Alaska ( 61 degrees north latitude) the moon will rise at nearly the same time for a week! The farther north you live, the greater the Harvest Moon effect. For mid-temperate latitudes, it rises only about 20 to 25 minutes later daily for several days before and after the full Harvest Moon.įor very high northern latitudes, there’s even less time between successive moonrises. But when a full moon happens close to an autumn equinox, the moon on the following nights rises closer to the time of sunset. On average, the full moon rises around sunset, and rises about 50 minutes later each day. Nature is particularly cooperative in giving us dusk-till-dawn moonlight, for several evenings in a row, around the time of the Harvest Moon. But these autumn full moons do have special characteristics related to the time of moonrise. In some ways, it’s like any other full moon name. See how it’s slightly less than full? Radu wrote: “The moon, just after moonrise, on a sky pretty covered with clouds …” Thank you, Radu! Why is the Harvest Moon special? | Radu Anghel caught last night’s moon (September 8, 2022). Note: For the Southern Hemisphere, the Harvest Moon always comes in March or early April. Is the Harvest Moon bigger, brighter or yellower? Nope! But it does have distinctive characteristics, which you can read about below.
In 2022, the equinox occurs at 1:04 UTC on September 23. What is the Harvest Moon? It’s the full moon closest to the September equinox. CDT on September 10 in central North America. On both nights, the bright Harvest Moon will be up all night.įullest moon falls at 9:59 UTC on September 10. It’ll rise only shortly after sunset on September 10 (for Northern Hemisphere locations). When and where to look in 2022: On September 9, watch for the bright, round full moon to rise in the east at sunset. The Harvest Moon – closest full moon to the autumn equinox – happens on September 9 and 10, 2022, for the Northern Hemisphere. It crosses the sky between these 2 bright planets throughout the night. Bonus! The September 9 moon rises between the very bright planet Jupiter and golden Saturn. So it’s the Northern Hemisphere’s Harvest Moon. This full moon is the closest to the September equinox. For those of us in the Americas, the September full moon is closer to full on the night of September 9, 2022, than it will be on the night of September 10 … even though your calendar might say the full moon is September 10.
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