The last giant moon of the year will appear next Friday, September 29.
The supermoon could be up to 14% larger and 30% brighter than normal.
The best time to see it is at moonrise: in Germany around 7pm.
Get ready, next Friday — September 29 — is the last supermoon of 2023. It’s also this year’s Harvest Moon, meaning a full moon occurs closest to the first day of fall.
A supermoon is a type of full moon that is up to 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than the weakest moon of the year. This is because it is located at its closest point to Earth, which is the perigee, according to NASA.
Although next Friday’s supermoon won’t be the largest of the year — that award goes to August’s super blue moon — it will still be larger than average and worth seeing.
“The difference between this full moon and August’s supermoon is only 4,370 kilometers, making it very close to the 14 percent/30 percent value for the largest full moon of the year,” said Noah Petro, project scientist for NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. In an email to Business Insider.
Do harvest moons appear larger?
“Harvest moons occur at this time of year, and they are called that because the full moon appears at sunset for several days,” Patrick Hartigan, a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University, told Business Insider. The light allowed farmers harvesting crops in the Northern Hemisphere to continue working after sunset.
The moon usually rises 50 minutes later the night before. Around Harvest Moon, this delay is reduced by several minutes, depending on your location. He added: “You get the impression that the full moon appears on the horizon immediately after sunset for several consecutive days.”
“There is also an optical illusion that the moon appears larger when it is close to the horizon,” says Hartigan. “Combined with the influence of the mini supermoon, all of this will lead to a beautiful Harvest Moon season in 2023.”
Read also
Why does the Harvest Moon appear red or orange?
While this supermoon won’t be as close or quite as bright as it will be in August, it may appear dark yellow, orange or red, especially when it first appears above the horizon.
“The moon appears to change color only when it rises or sets above the horizon or during a lunar eclipse,” NASA’s Noah Petro said. This is also why we have red sunrises and sunsets. “Earth’s atmosphere scatters light. The exception is red and orange colors,” he said. Atmospheric conditions such as clouds, smoke or dust can change the moon’s color and brightness.
The best time to see the supermoon is at moonrise
Moonrise is the best time to view the massive size of the supermoon. When the moon is close to the horizon, such as during moonrise, foreground objects such as trees and rocks can give a sense of scale.
Therefore, according to NASA, the Moon appears larger at this time. A supermoon can look particularly impressive. So the best time to see this year’s Harvest Supermoon is at moonrise. That’s in Germany Around 7 p.m.
This article was translated and edited from English by Jonas Metzner. You can do the original here is reading.
Read also
“Total coffee aficionado. Travel buff. Music ninja. Bacon nerd. Beeraholic.”
More Stories
The distance from Earth to the Moon is not that easy
European Space Agency image showing “traces of spiders on Mars”
“Traces of spiders on Mars”