Full Moon Madness

I love a night with a full moon, especially a cool, crisp night when the greenish/white lunar glow gives everything a cold, ghostly look.

Our next full moon is this Sunday, October 4. According to the Farmer’s Almanac, Sunday’s full moon is called the Harvest Moon, and is the name given to the full moon closest to the Autumnal Equinox. Since it takes roughly 30 days for the moon to go from a new moon to a full moon and back to a new moon, the Harvest full moon can occur in September as well as October. In fact, the Harvest full moon usually occurs in September rather than in October (about 66% of the time).

The name origin is pretty obvious — farmers could use the bright light from this full moon to work late into the night gathering the fall harvest.

And get set for December, when you’ll see two full moons — one on December 2 and the second on December 31. While the first December full moon will be the Full Cold Moon, the second full moon will be a Blue Moon. ”Blue Moon” is the general name given to the second full moon in one month or the fourth full moon in a season.