Current:Home > NewsSeptember harvest moon: Thursday's full moon will be final supermoon of 2023 -Legacy Profit Partners
September harvest moon: Thursday's full moon will be final supermoon of 2023
View
Date:2025-04-18 06:21:57
The fourth and final supermoon of 2023 will be visible after sunset Thursday, capping off a summer full of big, bright full moons.
A supermoon happens when the moon is at or near its closest point to Earth in its orbit. During those times, the moon can appear larger and to shine brighter than at other points in its cycle.
This year's harvest supermoon will reach peak illumination at about 6 a.m. ET on Friday after rising in the previous night sky, according to the Farmer's Almanac. It will be visible Friday evening, too.
Thursday's full moon is called the harvest moon, because it's closest to the autumnal equinox, which was Sept. 23. Farmers and other skywatchers also call September's full moon the corn moon, signifying end-of-summer harvests.
Most years the harvest moon happens in September, but every three years it falls in October, so, not every full corn moon is a harvest moon.
Is it in the stars? Free Daily and Monthly Horoscopes
Stargazers who miss this week's supermoon will have to wait about another year for the next supermoon to grace the night sky late in summer 2024.
Why is it called the 'harvest' moon?
The harvest moon's name has long been tied to when crops need to be picked from the fields.
"In the days before tractors with headlights, having moonlight to work by was crucial to getting the harvest in quickly before rain caused it to rot," said Alan MacRobert, an editor at Sky & Telescope magazine.
Many crops ripen in late summer and early autumn, so farmers were extremely busy at this time of year and had to work after sundown, according to NASA. Moonlight became an essential part of farming, and the harvest moon was born.
The Oxford English Dictionary cites 1706 as the first year the term harvest moon was published, NASA said.
2023 had 4 supermoons
Thursday's supermoon is the last of four consecutive supermoons in 2023:
- July's buck moon
- August's sturgeon moon
- August's blue moon
- September's harvest moon
A blue moon is the second of two full moons in a single month, and August's blue moon was especially rare, because it was also a supermoon. NASA says the next super blue moon won't come for another 14 years, when a pair will grace the night sky in January and March 2037.
Contributing: Christopher Cann, USA TODAY; Joyce Orlando, Nashville Tennessean
veryGood! (5695)
Related
- B.A. Parker is learning the banjo
- Jail phone restricted for Michigan school shooter’s dad after he made threats, authorities say
- Pentagon study finds no sign of alien life in reported UFO sightings going back decades
- Duke-North Carolina clash leads games to watch on final weekend of college basketball season
- Could Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft reunite? Maybe in Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class
- Endangered red panda among 87 live animals seized from smugglers at Thailand airport
- Introduction to TEA Business College
- Endangered red panda among 87 live animals seized from smugglers at Thailand airport
- Military service academies see drop in reported sexual assaults after alarming surge
- Maine mass shooter had a brain injury. Experts say that doesn’t explain his violence.
Ranking
- Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
- Chiefs fans who endured freezing temperatures during NFL playoffs may require amputations
- The Road to Artificial Intelligence at TEA Business College
- What are the odds in the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight? What Tyson's last fight tells us
- 2 killed, 3 injured in shooting at makeshift club in Houston
- The new pro women’s hockey league allows more hitting. Players say they like showing those skills
- Georgia House Democratic leader James Beverly won’t seek reelection in 2024
- US jobs report for February is likely to show that hiring remains solid but slower
Recommendation
2 killed, 3 injured in shooting at makeshift club in Houston
Donald Trump will get juror names at New York criminal trial but they’ll be anonymous to the public
Pentagon study finds no sign of alien life in reported UFO sightings going back decades
AP Decision Notes: What to expect in the March 12 presidential contests
Megan Fox's ex Brian Austin Green tells Machine Gun Kelly to 'grow up'
How springing forward to daylight saving time could affect your health -- and how to prepare
Biden says her name — Laken Riley — at urging of GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
Get 50% Off Tarte Mascara, 80% Off Free People, $6 Baublebar Deals, 25% Off Kiehl's & More Discounts