By
definition, the harvest moon is the first full moon that occurs after the
autumnal equinox. This year, the autumnal equinox fell on Saturday, Sept. 22,
2012. That makes this weekend's full moon a harvest moon!.
Besides being the first full moon after the equinox, the harvest
moon gets its name for another reason. Not all full moons are created equal.
Much like the sun, the moon will rise and fall each day. However, the moon does
this with a much larger variability than the sun does. Whereas the sun's rise
and set is at most a couple minutes different from one day to the next, the
moon rises on average 50 minutes later each day than the previous day.
Unlike other full moons, it just so happens that the harvest
moon's rise corresponds with sunset more closely then at any other time during
the year. This means that just as night falls, the full moon begins to rise
above the horizon in all it's glory. It's called the harvest moon then because
it provides ample light for farmers to bring in the harvest well after the sun
sets.
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