Let’s hope for the forecasted clear skies Wednesday night as we will want to see a lunar showpiece — the closest and brightest moon for 2025 — a full hunter’s supermoon.
Let’s hope for the forecast clear skies Wednesday night as we will want to see a lunar showpiece — the closest and brightest moon for 2025 — a full hunter’s supermoon.
Will Wednesday’s full hunter’s supermoon give us color like last month’s full harvest supermoon? Let’s hope so because it will be the brightest and closest moon of 2025.(WTOP/Greg Redfern)
The hunter’s full moon is the full moon that occurs after the full harvest moon which, happened last month. Usually the hunter’s moon is in October, but every four years it occurs in November. The moon will be at full phase at 8:19 a.m. EST on Wednesday. Check out the time for moon rise from your location.
In days gone by, hunters used the light of the full moon to hunt in the fallow fields following their harvest.
The term “supermoon” has made its way into every day usage but it is not an astronomical term. When the moon orbits the Earth each month, it passes a point where it is closest to our planet — perigee — and farthest — apogee. When the new or full moon occurs within 24 hours of perigee, it is a perigee new or full moon, or what is now known as a supermoon. This full supermoon is the second in a row, as last month’s full harvest moon was a supermoon as well.
You can take pictures of the full hunter’s supermoon with your smartphone and/or camera. Take images and then adjust as necessary. It will be best to image the moon just as it is rising in the east around sunset as it begins to get dark. That’s when the display of color and the moon illusion will be at their peak.
Enjoy the extra moonlight as the full hunter’s supermoon will be 16% brighter and 6% larger than the average full moon.
Be sure to check out the other sky delights of November.
Here’s to clear skies, D.C. area, although we do need rain!
Follow my daily blog to keep up with the latest news in astronomy and space exploration. You can email me at skyguyinva@gmail.com.
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