Moon: – For those in the Northern Hemisphere, summer will come to an end next Wednesday. Slowly but surely since the middle of June, days have been getting shorter. With the arrival of the autumn equinox comes cooler weather and a change of color amongst the trees. And Monday, two days before the official start of fall, the harvest moon.
For three days, moonrise will come shortly after sunset, but the harvest moon will reach its peak illumination at 7:54 p.m. ET Monday. Historically this lunar event provided farmers a little extra light to harvest their crops. However, unlike the equinoxes, which take place at the same time each year, the harvest moon is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox. Which means it can fall in September or October, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac.
But that’s not all that changes with the last full moon of the summer. You may recall glancing up at the night sky and noticed the moon varies in size from time to time. That’s because the its orbit around the Earth isn’t a perfect circle, NASA explains.
Sometimes the harvest moon appears to be enormous, such as in 2015, when it was the year’s closest and biggest super moon. The moon appears so much larger during super moon events because it’s closer to Earth, known as the perigee. At its closest point the moon is about 226,000 miles from Earth. But sometimes the harvest moon occurs when the moon is furthest from Earth in orbit, the apogee, at 253,000 miles away.
If spectators catch the moon rising at just the right time, it will appear orange in color. But this theatrical touch isn’t specific to the harvest moon. The moon varies in color depending on a handful of factors, including where the viewer is standing. When Earth’s satellite is closest to the horizon it takes on a red or yellow color, NASA says. But as it continues to rise it will gradually take on its traditional pale, white color.
East Asian culture celebrates the August Moon Festival, which doesn’t always coincide with the rising of the harvest moon itself. According to the Boston Public Library, the festival can be traced back to 771 B.C. and was celebrated by harvesting rice and wheat on the night of the full moon. Similar to Thanksgiving in the United States, the August moon is celebrated by the gathering of friends and families, but instead of turkey, people eat mooncakes, a sweet and savory dessert.
The full moon of September 2021 will be shining in the night sky this week, just in time for the official start of fall as the autumn equinox arrives.
Better known as the “harvest moon,” the September moon will officially reach its fullest phase at 7:54 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 20. But it will look big and bright for a few days.
The moon will be 98% full on Sunday, 100% full Monday and Tuesday, and 98% full on Wednesday, Sept. 22 — the first official day of fall, known as the autumn equinox or autumnal equinox.
The equinox occurs when the sun rises directly over the equator, bringing an almost equal amount of daylight and darkness hours in the northern and southern hemispheres on that calendar day.
When to see the full Moon rise
The best time to see the September harvest moon will be when it begins to rise in the eastern sky at about 7:15 p.m. Eastern time Monday, 20 minutes after the sun sets, and as it starts to rise at 7:36 p.m. on Tuesday.
The near-full moon will be rising Sunday at 6:48 p.m. and Wednesday at 7:59 p.m.
Nicknames for the September full moon
September’s full moon has a nickname related to the growing season. During most years, it is called the “harvest moon,” but sometimes that nickname is reserved for the October full moon.
It all depends on which of those two full moons appears closest to date of the autumn equinox.
Because this year’s full moon will appear on the night of Sept. 20, two days before autumn arrives, it will be called a harvest moon.
Last year, the September full moon appeared on Sept. 1, followed by another full moon on Oct. 1. “Because October 1 was closer to the equinox, October’s full moon was called the harvest moon and September’s full moon took on its traditional name: the corn moon,” the Old Farmer’s Almanac noted.
In addition to those nicknames, some native American tribes call the September full moon the barley moon, “because it is the time to harvest and thresh the ripened barley,” the Old Farmer’s Almanac says.
Space.com says the September full moon was known as the “falling leaves moon” among the Ojibwe tribe in the Great Lakes region, while the Cree of Ontario referred to this moon as the “rutting moon” because September was the time when many animals, particularly deer, started their mating.
When is the October full moon?
Last year, because of the lunar cycle’s timing, we had a special treat during the Halloween season — two full moons in October, including one on Oct. 31.
But this year, things will return to normal, with just one full moon in October. The so-called “hunter’s moon” will be shining at its fullest phase at 10:56 a.m. on Oct. 20, 2021.
The final full moons of 2021 will be shining in the sky on Nov. 19 and Dec. 18.
When to see the 12 full moons in 2021
Here are the dates and times of each full moon appearing in 2021, along with the most popular nicknames. The times listed here are in the Eastern time zone in the United States.
| DATE | TIME | NICKNAME | SPECIAL EVENT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan. 28 | 2:16 p.m. | wolf moon | |
| Feb. 27 | 3:17 a.m. | snow moon | |
| March 28 | 2:48 p.m. | worm moon | |
| April 26 | 11:31 p.m. | pink moon | supermoon |
| May 26 | 7:13 a.m. | flower moon | supermoon / total lunar eclipse |
| June 24 | 2:39 p.m. | strawberry moon | supermoon |
| July 23 | 10:36 p.m. | buck moon / thunder moon | |
| Aug. 22 | 8:01 a.m. | sturgeon moon | seasonal blue moon |
| Sept. 20 | 7:54 p.m. | harvest moon / corn moon | |
| Oct. 20 | 10:56 a.m. | hunter’s moon | |
| Nov. 19 | 3:57 a.m. | beaver moon / frost moon | partial lunar eclipse |
| Dec. 18 | 11:35 p.m. | cold moon |
Table: Len Melisurgo Source: Farmers’ Almanac, Old Farmer’s Almanac, TimeAndDate.com Get the data Created with Datawrapper
