A super harvest moon and a partial eclipse await lunar lovers
By Janet Loehrke, USA TODAY,
2024-09-13
A partial lunar eclipse of the Harvest supermoon is coming this September. Illustration/Janet Loehrke/USA TODAY
If you're a moon enthusiast, you'll love this rare combination of celestial treats – a supermoon, a partial lunar eclipse, and a harvest moon – all in September.
International Observe the Moon Night starts on Saturday, according to NASA. That event began in 2010 for lunar lovers around the world to join in celebration of Earth's natural satellite. You can join the event virtually or in person by connecting with skywatchers on NASA's International Observe the Moon's interactive map.
The harvest moon will appear brighter from Sept. 16 to 18, according to The Almanac . This full moon will be a supermoon, illuminating the sky at its brightest at 10:34 p.m. EDT on Sept. 17, according to Space.com .
And a partial lunar eclipse will occur overnight on Sept. 17-18 for those in the Americas, Europe and Africa. Here's what we know about these lunar events:
When is the super harvest blood moon?
A full moon at perigee is called a supermoon, which appears 14% larger and 30% brighter than usual. Perigee is the moon’s closest orbital point to Earth, about 222,007 miles. The next supermoon appears Sept. 17.
When the moon is at apogee, its farthest point from Earth, it's called a micromoon.
The harvest moon is the second supermoon of the year following August's sturgeon moon . Supermoons generally appear three or four times a year, always consecutively; after Sept. 17, the next supermoons are Oct. 17 and Nov. 15.
A blood moon occurs when the Earth lines up between the moon and the sun. This partial lunar eclipse will block the direct sunlight to the moon, so the only light it gets passes through the Earth’s atmosphere, which filters out most of the sunlight’s colors, except red. The atmosphere refracts, or bends, the reddish light toward the moon, which reflects it with a red glow.
This full moon will also experience a partial lunar eclipse.
Who will have the best view of the partial lunar eclipse?
TimeandDate.com says the partial lunar eclipse will be visible over North America, South America, most of Europe and Asia, Africa, the Arctic and Antarctica on Sept. 18.
If you live in the U.S. or elsewhere in North America, you can see the partial lunar eclipse starting at 10:12 p.m. EDT.
What happens in a partial lunar eclipse?
A partial lunar eclipse takes place when the Earth passes between the sun and the moon, but the three celestial bodies don't align in a straight line, according to Space.com .
When that occurs, the umbra – the darkest portion of the Earth's shadow – covers only small fraction of the moon's surface. The penumbra, or outside edge of the Earth's shadow, covers the remaining portion of the moon.
Here's where the moon will travel during the partial lunar eclipse
Only a portion of the moon passes through Earth's shadow during a partial lunar eclipse, giving the impression that the Earth is taking a "bite" out of the moon's surface. The Earth's shadow will appear dark on the moon's surface. The alignment of the sun, Earth and moon will determine how much of a "bite" the moon will experience, NASA says.
Our astronomical alignments are about to get better next year. There will be a total of three lunar eclipses and one partial lunar eclipse coming in 2025-2026. The last total lunar eclipse was on Nov. 8, 2022, according to SkyandTelescope.org .
Why is it called a harvest moon?
The harvest moon is named after the time of year when crops need to be harvested from the fields.
According to Sky & Telescope magazine editor Alan MacRobert, "In the days before tractors with headlights, having moonlight to work by was crucial to getting the harvest in quickly before rain caused it to rot."
According to NASA, farmers were busy this time of year and had to work after nightfall because many crops ripen in late summer and early autumn. With the start of moonlight farming, the harvest moon was born.
CONTRIBUTING Doyle Rice, USA TODAY, and Iris Seaton, USA TODAY NETWORK
SOURCE NASA, EarthandSky.org, SkyandTelescope.org, TimeandDate.com, and USA TODAY research
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