Hunter's moon
Encyclopedia
Full moon
Full moon lunar phase that occurs when the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. More precisely, a full moon occurs when the geocentric apparent longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180 degrees; the Moon is then in opposition with the Sun.Lunar eclipses can only occur at...
after the harvest moon
Harvest moon
The Full Harvest Moon is the full moon that occurs closest to the autumnal equinox.-Appearance:All full moons rise around the time of sunset. In general the moon rises about 3 minutes later each day...
, which is the full moon nearest the autumnal equinox.
Background
The Hunter's Moon is so named because plenty of moonlight is ideal for hunters shooting migrating birds in Northern Europe. The name is also said to have been used by Native AmericansIndigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
as they tracked and killed their prey by autumn moonlight, stockpiling food for the winter ahead. The Hunter's Moon and Harvest Moon are not brighter, smaller or yellower than during other times of the year, but all full moons have their own special characteristics, based primarily on the whereabouts of the ecliptic
Ecliptic
The ecliptic is the plane of the earth's orbit around the sun. In more accurate terms, it is the intersection of the celestial sphere with the ecliptic plane, which is the geometric plane containing the mean orbit of the Earth around the Sun...
in the sky at the time of year that they are visible. The full moons of September, October and November, as seen from the northern hemisphere—which correspond to the full moons of March, April and May as seen from the southern hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
—are well known in the folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
of the sky.
Variation in time of moonrise
In general, the moon rises about 50 minutes later each day, as it moves in orbit around Earth. All full moons rise around the time of sunset. The Harvest Moon and Hunter's Moon are special because—as seen from the northern hemisphereNorthern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
—the time of moonrise between successive evenings is shorter than usual. The moon rises approximately 30 minutes later, from one night to the next, as seen from about 40 degrees N. latitude, for several evenings around the full Hunter's or Harvest Moons.
Thus there is no long period of darkness between sunset and moonrise, around the time of these full moons. In times past, this feature of these autumn moons was said to help hunters tracking their prey (or, in the case of the Harvest Moon, farmers working in the fields). They could continue tracking their prey (or bringing in their crops) by moonlight even when the sun had gone down. Hence the name Hunter's (or Harvest) Moon.
The reason for the shorter-than-usual rising time between successive moon rises around the time of the Harvest and Hunter's Moon is that the orbit of the Moon makes a narrow angle with respect to the horizon in the evening in autumn, leading the Moon to higher positions in the sky each successive day.
Brightness and distance
Since the Moon's sidereal period differs from its synodic period, the perigeePerigee
Perigee is the point at which an object makes its closest approach to the Earth.. Often the term is used in a broader sense to define the point in an orbit where the orbiting body is closest to the body it orbits. The opposite is the apogee, the farthest or highest point.The Greek prefix "peri"...
of the Moon (the point where it is closest to the Earth) does not stay in sync with the phases of the Moon. Thus the Hunter's Moon does not correspond to any special timing of the Moon's distance from the Earth. This is why the Hunter's Moon is not, in general, brighter than any other regular full moon.
Traditional association with feasting
In the northern hemisphereNorthern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
, the Hunter's Moon appears in October or November, usually in October. Traditionally, it was a feast day in parts of western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
and among some Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
tribes, called simply the Feast
Feast
Feast may refer to:* Banquet, a large meal* A Festival or feria* Ramadan, Muslim's holy month* Nineteen Day Feast, a monthly meeting held in Bahá'í communities to worship, consult, and socialize....
of the Hunter's Moon, though the celebration had largely died out by the 18th century. There is a large historical reenactment by that name (Feast of the Hunters' Moon) in Lafayette, Indiana
Lafayette, Indiana
Lafayette is a city in and the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, northwest of Indianapolis. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 67,140. West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home to Purdue University, which has a large impact on...
during the early part of October 2010.
Other names
In mythMythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
and folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
the full moon of each month is given a name. There are many variations.
The Farmers' Almanac version, and NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
version, are as follows:
- January – Wolf moonWolf moonThe Wolf Moon is a full moon that occurs in January. Its name comes from hungry wolf packs that would howl outside the villages of Native Americans. This full moon is also known as theOld Moon or the Moon After Yule....
- February – Snow moon
- March – Storm moonStorm moonA Storm moon is, according to weather folklore, the moon which occurs in March during shifting weather patterns in the northern hemisphere. It is also called seed moon, moon of winds, crow moon, and moon of the snow-blind.-Other names:...
- April – Pink moonPink MoonPink Moon is the third and final album by English musician Nick Drake. It was recorded at midnight in two separate two-hour sessions, over two days in October 1971, featuring only Nick Drake's vocals and guitar, as well as some piano later overdubbed by Drake on the title track.-Album...
- May – Flower moon
- June – Strawberry moon
- July – Buck moon
- August – Sturgeon moon
- September – Harvest moonHarvest moonThe Full Harvest Moon is the full moon that occurs closest to the autumnal equinox.-Appearance:All full moons rise around the time of sunset. In general the moon rises about 3 minutes later each day...
- October – Hunter's moon
- November – Beaver moon
- December – Cold moonCold MoonCold Moon is a 1991 French drama film directed by Patrick Bouchitey. It was entered into the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. It is based on the Charles Bukowski short stories "The Copulating Mermaid of Venice" and "Trouble with the Battery".-Cast:...
The July full moon may also be known as the thunder moon, and the March one as the raccoon moon.
The third full moon in a season with four full moons is called a blue moon
Blue moon
A blue moon can refer to the third full moon in a season with four full moons. Most years have twelve full moons that occur approximately monthly. In addition to those twelve full lunar cycles, each solar calendar year contains roughly eleven days more than the lunar year of 12 lunations...
, as described in the Maine Farmers' Almanac. Until recently it was commonly misunderstood that the second full moon in a month was the blue moon. However, it was recently discovered by Sky & Telescope
Sky & Telescope
Sky & Telescope is a monthly American magazine covering all aspects of amateur astronomy, including the following:*current events in astronomy and space exploration;*events in the amateur astronomy community;...
magazine and reported on NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
that the interpretation of a blue moon as the second full moon of the month was erroneously reported in an issue of Sky & Telescope dating back to 1946 and then perpetuated by other media.