Rare Super “Harvest Moon” Phenomenon Witnessed
September 23rd, 2010 - 7:25 pm ICT by GDBy Gina Gomez
Sep 23, (THAINDIAN NEWS) A wonderful phenomenon known as ” Harvest moon” took place this equinox on Sep 22, Wednesday. The time varied a few hours depending on the location. The full harvest moon was revealed to those who whose view of the sky was not blocked by clouds. The harvest moon refers to a rare position in the sky when the moon appears exceptionally big and bright all night long in the sky. The phenomenon is named “harvest moon” as the farmers used to count upon the its luminous glow to harvest their crops. Hence the name “Harvest moon”. Moreover the sky will be witnessing a bright Jupiter next to the moon and this rare treat has a added bonus for someone who uses a binocular.
Those who used binoculars had a added advantage of spotting Uranus as well. The planet was not visible to the naked eye. The harvest moon and the autumnal equinox happened on the same day. This rarely happens and will again take place in 2029. The last time they had come anywhere close to taking place on the same day was On 23 September, 1991.
Autumnal equinox is a day when the night and day are of equal length. This marks the beginning of fall in the northern hemisphere where the nights keep on increasing till the winter solstice on December 21. The equinox marks the beginning of autumn in the Northern hemisphere and spring in the southern hemisphere. The reason as to why the harvest moon creates an optical illusion of appearing to be abnormally big is not clear.
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- Lunar Eclispe Coincides With Winter Solstice After 456 Years - Dec 20, 2010
- Day and night to be equal Thursday - Sep 22, 2010
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- Watch autumn equinox at Jantar Mantar Thursday - Sep 21, 2011
- Get ready to see the elusive 'False Dawn' of zodiacal light next week - Sep 10, 2010
- Jupiter, Uranus to shine brightest Tuesday - Sep 20, 2010
- Lunar eclipse coincides with winter solstice in 400 years - Dec 21, 2010
- Comet Hartley 2 Will Be Visible From The Northern Horizon - Oct 20, 2010
- Solar fest in Delhi on longest day of the year - Jun 20, 2011
- Delhi schoolkids observe autumn equinox - Sep 23, 2011
Tags: added advantage, added bonus, autumnal equinox, beginning of autumn, beginning of fall, binocular, binoculars, bright jupiter, crops, equinox, gina gomez, harvest moon, naked eye, northern hemisphere, optical illusion, rare position, solstice, southern hemisphere, uranus, winter solstice