tonight | The harvest moon decorates the sky of the homeland, heralding the arrival of autumn

Arab Weather - After sunset today, Monday 20/9/2021 AD, the full moon for the month of Safar 1443 is monitored, which is the last full moon in the summer, and is known in the Arab world as the "harvest moon" or "the harvest moon".

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The head of the Astronomical Society in Jeddah, Eng. Majed Abu Zahira, said: The term harvest moon has been used for several years, and it is a “popular” designation for the full moons that occur in September and October, the months close to the autumnal equinox, in addition to that in September and October it is the time of moonrise. Close to sunset for several nights in a row at the time of the full moon in the Northern Hemisphere.

Abu Zahra added: The moon will rise from the eastern horizon (northeast) with sunset, and he will notice that the apparent size of the moon will be large when it is near the horizon, and its color may be pink or orange; But after it rises in the sky, its small size returns, and this is just an optical illusion that occurs in the middle of each lunar month.

He pointed out that the pink or orange color of the moon can appear during its rising due to the atmosphere of our planet; Its components scatter the white light reflected from the moon; So that the colors of the blue spectrum with a short wavelength are scattered and the colors of the red spectrum with a long wavelength that reach our eyes remain, which is the same reason why we see the setting sun in a reddish color.

Abu Zahira continued: The harvest moon will reach the highest point in the sky at midnight local time, tilting towards the south, and this will be followed by its arrival at the moment of completion at an angle of 180 degrees from the sun at 02:54 after midnight Saudi time (11:54 pm GMT), and it will be It cuts half of its orbit around the Earth during the month, and it will remain a sight until sunset at sunrise Tuesday.

The full moons close to the time of the autumn equinox are distinguished; Since the apparent path of the sun, moon, and planets makes a narrow angle with the horizon at sunset.

He added that every full moon rises with the time of sunset, and on average the moon rises the next day about 50 minutes late, and this happens every day, but in the months of September and October; The narrow angle of the zodiac with the horizon causes the moon to rise earlier than average in northern latitudes, and at mid-northern latitudes, instead of 50 minutes later in the days after the full moon. The waning humpback moon will rise only about 35 minutes late for several days in a row; Whereas at higher latitudes near the Arctic Circle, the moon rises later by about 15 minutes for several days.

He continued: This matter was considered important in ancient times for farmers who harvested their crops before the age of tractors equipped with light bulbs; where there was not a long period of darkness between sunset and moonrise for several days after the full moon; Which means that farmers were working in the fields and reaping crops under the moonlight, hence the name harvest moon.

This time of the month is ideal for seeing the moon’s radioactive craters through binoculars or a small telescope, unlike the rest of the terrain that appears flat as a result of the full moon in the sunlight. These radioactive craters are deposits of bright reflective materials that extend from the center of the craters outward for hundreds of kilometers It is believed that these craters are newly formed, and the Techo crater is the most radiant.

and within a few days; The moon will only be visible in the dawn sky, at which time it will reach its last square phase a week after reaching its fullness.