Hunter’s Moon rises at sunset, shines all night October 29
For much of the world’s Northern Hemisphere, October 29, 2012 is the night of the full Hunter’s Moon. Watch it rise in the east as the sun goes down. Like any full moon, the Hunter’s Moon will shine all night long. It’ll soar highest in the sky around midnight on October 29 and will set in the west the following sunrise. Officially, the Hunter’s Moon is the full moon after the Harvest Moon, which is the full moon nearest the autumnal equinox. This year, the Harvest Moon came in late September. That’s why tonight’s moon in late October bears the name Hunter’s Moon.
Generally speaking, we can say the moon stays full all through the night tonight. But to astronomers, the moon turns full at a well-defined instant, or when it’s most opposite the sun for the month. That happens today at 19:49 Universal Time (or 2:49 p.m. Central Daylight Time in North America).
How is the Hunter’s Moon different from other full moons?
The Hunter’s Moon always occurs in autumn. In the Northern Hemisphere, it usually falls in October, although it can come as late as early November. In the Southern Hemisphere, a full moon with Hunter’s Moon characteristics comes in April or May.
Autumn full moons – like the Hunter’s Moon or Harvest Moon – are different from other full moons. That’s because, in autumn, the ecliptic – or path of the sun, moon and planets – makes a narrow angle with the evening horizon. That fact causes several sky phenomena. For example, the location of the moonrise on your horizon, for several nights around a Northern Hemisphere autumn full moon, is noticeably farther north along the eastern horizon for several nights in succession.
It’s this northward movement of the moon along the eastern horizon at moonrise – for several days in a row, around the time of full moon – that gives the Hunter’s Moon its magic.
These more northerly moonrises assure us of earlier-than-usual moonrises around the time of full moon. On average, the moon rises 50 minutes later daily. But at mid-northern latitudes around now, the moon is rising about 30 to 35 minutes later. And farther north, the effect is even more pronounced. For instance, at latitudes close to the Arctic Circle – like at Fairbanks, Alaska – the moon actually rises around 15 to 20 minutes later for several days in a row.
Meanwhile, in the months of September, October and November as seen from the Southern Hemisphere, it’s springtime. In the spring, there is a particularly long time between successive moonrises, around the time of full moon.
Before the advent of electricity, our ancestors knew how to plan nocturnal activity around the full Hunter’s Moon. If you live sufficiently north on the globe, you can count on tonight’s Hunter’s Moon to bring early evening-till-dawn moonlight for the next several nights!
As autumn full moons, the Harvest and Hunter’s Moons show this seasonal effect, though to a lesser extent than usual around now due to an effect known as minor lunar standstill. Read more: Lunar standstill cycle lessens impact of Harvest and Hunter’s Moons
Bottom line: The 2012 Hunter’s Moon takes place on October 29, 2012. In skylore, the Hunter’s Moon is the full moon after the Harvest Moon, which is the full moon closest to the September equinox. It’s characterized by a shorter-than-usual time between moonrises for several nights in a row around full moon. And you can see that, at each successive moonrise, the moon appears farther north on the horizon.
http://earthsky.org/tonight/hunters-moon-to-rise-as-the-sun-sets-on-october-29
