A Photographer's Musings

Harvest Moon at Lunar Perigee.

Tonight’s Full Moon happens to be once again at lunar perigee (the point the Moon is closest to earth in its orbit around us). This is the 3rd time this summer which is quite an unusual event in itself. When the Full Moon is at lunar perigee, it is given the name “Super Moon” or “Supermoon”. September’s “Super Moon” also coincides with this year’s Harvest Moon which can either occur in September or October depending on the Moon’s cycle and how close a Full Moon is to the autumnal equinox.

What is a Harvest Moon – Simply put. Farmers would use the Harvest Moon rise for several days around the time of the Full Moon closest to the autumnal equinox as the Moon rises at almost the same time for a number of nights in intermediate northern latitudes e.g. UK. This would give farmers more time to harvest their crops using the Moon’s light after sunset. Moot now as we have artificial lighting.

Technically the Moon doesn’t go full until 01.38 GMT (02.38 BST) on 9th September. The next “Super Moon” will be on 28th September 2015 which will coincide again with the Harvest Moon and will also be a lunar eclipse. So if there are any farmers using the light of next year’s Harvest Moon, they will be in for a shock.

I wanted to get a shot as the Moon was rising to give a context unfortunately it was cloudy so quickly shot the Moon as it appeared from behind thick cloud, however, there was still some thin cloud obscuring the Moon.