An airplane passes in front of the full moon on July 13 in Milwaukee. The moon’s orbit brought it closer to Earth than usual. This cosmic combo is called a supermoon. A supermoon will occur again on Thursday night. (Morry Gash, Associated Press)
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ATLANTA – Tonight’s super sturgeon moon could make you dance in the moonlight, the kind that only happens three to four times a year.
appointed by him Native American Algonquian Tribe after the sturgeon, which was most easily caught in the Great Lakes and other bodies of water during this time of year, the sturgeon moon ends the series of four supermoons of 2022, which began in May, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac. After sunset, look to the southeast to see this supermoon rise. It will reach maximum illumination on Thursday night.
“At certain times of the year, the moon is at its closest point to Earth and they are called supermoons,” Mike Hankey, operations manager for the American Meteor Society, said by email. “It’s just a natural point in the moon’s orbit. At each end, the moon is a little bit bigger or a little bit smaller (at its furthest point), but it’s not a huge difference.”
This closest proximity is called perigee, and it’s only about 226,000 miles from Earth, according to POT. This is why a supermoon also appears slightly brighter than a normal full moon. The moon’s distance from Earth changes throughout the month, as its orbit is not a perfect circle, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac.
If you take a cool supermoon photo, you can share it on social media with the hashtag #NASAMoonSnap, the phrase NASA uses to track moon-inspired content ahead of the late-summer launch of Artemis I, the first flight of Test. of the rocket and spacecraft that will send future astronauts to the moon, according to nasa tumblr. The agency has shared a guide to photographing the moonand will share some users’ content on their social media platforms during the launch broadcast.
The Sturgeon Moon will steal the spotlight from the Perseid meteor shower that will peak Thursday through Saturday.
“Bright phases of the moon are bad for meteor showers because they wash out fainter meteors,” Hankey said. “A full or nearly full moon dominates a part of the sky, making that part undesirable for meteor watching. A full moon also lasts all night, leaving no hours of total darkness, which is preferable.”
The Perseid meteor shower lasts from July 14 to September 1. 1, and this year’s barely visible peak will occur at 9 p.m. MDT on Friday, according to Earth Heaven. In previous years, the Perseids have been a highly anticipated shower in the Northern Hemisphere, where it is usually most visible. But that’s only when the moon isn’t in a phase that dominates the sky.
This year, the Perseids, which increase in number from sunset to sunrise, were most visible in early August, when the moon appeared smallest and dimmest. In previous years, they were most visible in nearly moonless skies.
The shower fragments come from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which takes 133 years to orbit the sun once, according to POT. The comet last entered the inner solar system in 1992.
Remaining space events in 2022
Four more full moons will occur this year, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac:
- September 10: Harvest Moon
- Oct. 9: Hunter’s Moon
- Nov. 8: Beaver Moon
- Dec. 7: cold moon
Other Native American tribes have different names for full moons, such as the Cheyenne tribe’s “dry grass moon” for the one that occurs in September, and the Arapaho tribe’s “busted trees” for the full moon that occurs in December.
See the peak of these upcoming meteor shower events later this year, according to EarthSky’s meteor shower 2022 guide:
- Draconids: Oct. 8-9
- Orionids: Oct. 20-21
- Southern Taurids: Nov. 5
- Northern Taurids: Nov. 12
- Leonidas: November. 17-18
- Geminids: Dec. 13-14
- Ursids: Dec. 22-23
And there will be one more total lunar eclipse and one partial solar eclipse in 2022, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac. The partial solar eclipse of October 1. 25 will be visible to people in Greenland, Iceland, Europe, Northeast Africa, the Middle East, West Asia, India, and western China.
The total lunar eclipse of November 1. 8 can be seen in Asia, Australia, the Pacific, South America, and North America between 1:01 am MT and 6:58 am MT. But for people in eastern North America, the moon will set during that time.
Wear proper eclipse glasses to view solar eclipses safely, as sunlight can damage the eye.
