Full Harvest Supermoon And Lunar Eclipse: What To Know In RI

RHODE ISLAND — The harvest moon — the full moon nearest the autumnal equinox — always has a reputation as a stunner, but as the second of four consecutive supermoons, it will appear especially big and bright on Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 17-18, weather permitting in Rhode Island.

On the 18th, when the moon still looks big and bright, a partial lunar eclipse will be visible in the Americas, Europe and Asia. The eclipse is in the evening hours for U.S. observers (while the Moon is rising for the West Coast). In some areas, viewers will see a little bite taken out of one side of the moon over about an hour, according to NASA.

Here’s what we’ll see in Rhode Island. Expect moon rise at 6:48 p.m. The partial lunar eclipse will be visible from 10:12 p.m. to 11:15 p.m.

The moon itself will appear slightly bigger and brighter because it’s a “supermoon,” a term coined in 1979 by astrologer Richard Nolle to describe the phenomenon when the moon’s orbit is closest to Earth, or at perigee, at the same time the moon is full.

As the term has been popularized, especially in the past decades, the biggest and brightest full moons of the year have become a favorite among skywatchers. They aren’t equal in intensity, though. Some lunar perigees come closer to Earth than others. At “extreme perigee,” that is the closest, the moon can appear 14 percent larger and about 16 percent brighter.

The full harvest supermoon and the Oct. 17 full hunters moon are “virtually tied for the closest of the year,” according to NASA.

The last of the four supermoons is the full beaver moon on Nov. 15.

Before anyone started using terms like “supermoon,” full moons were given names to help Native American tribes and others keep track of the seasonal changes that dictated the lives of their communities.

Unlike other full moons, the September full moon always rises at nearly the same time — around sunset — for several consecutive evenings, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac. It got its name because the bright moonlight gave farmers several evenings of moonlight to finish their harvests.

Musicians from the Tin Pan Alley Era to modern times have crooned about the harvest moon, and with good reason. The harvest moon is a favorite on the lunar calendar because the best times to view it are so reliable.

So, whether your musical tastes run from “Shine On, Harvest Moon” from the “Ziegfeld Follies” or Neil Young’s classic “Harvest Moon,” you should definitely plan to dance or otherwise play under it.

“Go out on the night of the full moon and find a good spot to watch it rise. It can be breathtaking, eliciting an awestruck ‘Wow!’ from any skywatcher,” NASA explains. “When we observe the Moon near the horizon, it often looks HUGE — whether it’s peeking over the shoulder of a distant mountain, rising out of the sea, hovering behind a cityscape, or looming over a thicket of trees.

“But here’s the thing: it’s all in your head. Really. …”

The harvest moon doesn’t always rise in September, as it will this year. It’s always the one that occurs closest to the autumnal equinox. That’s on Sunday, Sept. 22. Every three years, though, the harvest moon is in October.

Sometimes, the harvest moon looks more orange, but that has nothing to do with it being a harvest moon. The moon — and the sun, too — looks redder when it’s near the horizon because they’re seen through the maximum thickness of the atmosphere, which absorbs blue light and transmits red light.

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