Last night I was spellbound by the beauty of the full moon in the clear night sky. There are so many windows in this new house - some span two floors - so they provide perfect ways to enjoy the outside world (without encountering mosquitoes!!)
As I was surfing the net this morning, I discovered that tonight - for the first time in 20 years - we will have a "Super Harvest Moon". The action begins at sunset tonight...the last day of northern summer. As the sun sinks in the west, bringing the season to a close, the full Harvest Moon will rise in the east, heralding the start of Fall. The two sources of light will mix together to create a kind of 360-degree, summer-autumn twilight glow that is only seen on rare occasions.
As the Moon creeps above the eastern skyline, it may appear strangely inflated. This is what I like to think of as "moon magic"...or, for those of you less enchanted by fantasy - an "illusion." Astronomers don't even really understand why a low-hanging moon appears wider than it really is. I don't need to have an explanation - I just want to enjoy it! They say that the view improves as the night wears on.
I never questioned the reason for calling an autumn moon a harvest moon - but I discovered this morning that it started in the days before electricity. Farmers depended on bright moonlight to extend the workday beyond sunset so that they could gather their ripening crops in time for market. I guess the farmers would really like the one we are going to see tonight because it would be extra "Harvesty."
Anyway - be sure and enjoy tonight's celestial fanfare welcoming the Fall season. They say it won't happen again until 2029. Warning: Don't try and calculate how old you will be then. It's depressing!
I'll be looking through my skylights tonight!
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