The full moon of August arrives on Sunday (August 22), after passing near Jupiter.
According to NASA, the moon will be officially filled at 8:02 am EDT (1202 GMT). For New York City observers, the full moon just after nightfall will come out at 8:20 p.m. local time, or about 40 minutes after sunset that day.
A full moon occurs when the moon is exactly on the opposite side of the Earth from the sun; if the angle of the sky from the sun to the moon were measured, it would be 180 degrees. If the moon passes through the shadow of the Earth we see a lunar eclipse, but this does not happen every month because the orbit of the moon is inclined about 5 degrees towards the plane of the Earth’s orbit, so that the moon often “misses” the shadow.
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On August 22, shortly after midnight, the almost full moon will appear near Jupiter, moving to about seven lunar diameters on the planet, that is, 3 degrees and 44 minutes of arc, according to the observation site of the cel In-the-Sky.org. The two bodies will be in conjunction (sharing the same celestial length) at 12:56 am EDT (both will be in Capricorn, a faint constellation that makes Jupiter much easier to identify; Jupiter conjunction will appear above and slightly to the left (east) of the moon.The moon will be located to the south, approximately at its maximum altitude of about 31 degrees above the horizon.The moon is officially filled some hours later, but it will have already set at this point (the setting of the moon is at 6:01 a.m. in New York City).
When one moves south, the conjunction will appear higher in the sky; from Miami the conjunction will be about 46 degrees above the horizon. In the southern hemisphere the nights are longer (since it is winter) and the moon will appear correspondingly even higher. From Buenos Aires, the full moon occurs at 9:01 a.m. on August 22 and leaves on the night of August 21 at 5:36 p.m. The conjunction will be at 1:56 a.m. on Aug. 22 and the pair will be about 69 degrees high at 12:42 p.m.
Visible planets
On the night of the full moon, Venus, Mercury and Mars will all be “stars of the evening”. According to Heavens-Above.com calculations, the three planets rise at 9:28 a.m., 7:51 a.m., and 7:33 a.m. Eastern Time, respectively, in New York on August 22nd.
But only Venus will be easily observable; at eight in the evening, Mars will be no more than 4 degrees above the western horizon and Mercury only about 5 degrees above New York. This makes them very difficult to see, and both planets will have landed by 8:30 p.m. Venus, however, is bright enough to stand out even with a clear sky even after sunset. At an altitude of about 13 degrees at eight o’clock in the evening, the planet does not set until 9:13 p.m.
Other planets will rise: Jupiter will be close to the moon, just rising to the east after sunset. Saturn will rise at 18:43 local time in New York and will be in Capricorn. By the time the moon rises it will be about 15 degrees above the southeastern horizon, with Jupiter on its left.
Stars and constellations
Although the full moon tends to overwhelm the faintest stars, asterisks such as the Summer Triangle — which consists of the stars Vega, Deneb, and Altair — will be prominent and easily detectable in the southeast. About an hour and a half after sunset in the northern hemisphere, you can look almost up to find Vega, which, at mid-northern latitudes, is at an altitude of 80 to 88 degrees (depending on the distance which you have in the north or south) are in the lower 48 states).
Around 9:30 p.m., local time, in mid-northern latitudes, in the constellation Scorpius, the scorpion is visible to the south-southwest. Scorpius can be detected by looking for Antares, a bright red star that marks the heart of the scorpion. To the left of Scorpius is the constellation of Sagittarius, the archer, with its distinctive teapot shape, and above Scorpius is Ofiucus, the manipulator and healer of serpents.
The Big Dipper, the Big Dipper, will be in the northwest after sunset and, following the “indicators” – the two stars on the front of the Big Dipper bowl – to Polaris, you can go ahead and hit the W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia. Using the Dipper’s handle, you can “Bow to Arcturus” by sweeping the handle until you hit Boötes’ eponymous star, the shepherd.
In the southern hemisphere, the sky is “upside down” and at 21:00 local time on August 22 in the latitude of Cape Town or Melbourne the full moon will be seen, Jupiter and Saturn forming a rough vertical line in the east. the moon at the bottom and Saturn at the top. Just west of them, on the right, you will see Pisces Austrinus, the Southern Fish, and the bright star Fomalhaut, known to be relatively close, just 25 light-years away and the first star to have an exoplanet seen in visible light. . When you turn south, you see Achernar, the brightest star on the Eridanus River. To the southwest, you can see the southern cross and just above, the centaur, where Alpha Centauri is located.
How the Sturgeon Moon got its name
The full moon of August, according to the Almanac of the Old Farmer, is sometimes known as the Sturgeon Moon. The name probably comes from both the settlers and the Algonquin-speaking peoples of northeastern North America, as sturgeon (a type of fish) is native to both Europe and the Americas.
Not all indigenous nations in the region used the term. The Ojibwe, whose traditional territory is close to the Great Lakes, referred to the eighth full moon of the year as the Blackberry Moon, which could also occur in July. The Cree of Ontario called the full moon August Flying Up Moon because that was when the young birds flew. In the Pacific Northwest, the Haida called it the Salmon Moon (“chíin kungáay”), according to Dolly Garza’s book “Tlingit Moon & Tide”.
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In China and many surrounding countries, the full moon of August marks the Festival of the Ghosts of Hunger. The Chinese calendar is lunisolar and, strictly speaking, the full moon of August falls in the seventh month, Qiǎoyuè, or Month of Skill. Also called Ghost Month. The festival consists of honoring spirits who were not offered funerals or proper offerings when they died. People light paper lanterns and burn paper versions of earthly possessions or (fake) money to honor the dead.
The Maori counted the lunar months from new moon to new moon, so that the full moon of August reaches the middle of the month of Mahuru, which is towards the end of the austral winter. The month is described as “now the Earth has acquired heat.”
In South Africa, Zulus call uNcwaba in the first full month of the year (the small c marks a click sound in Zulu) and the name is derived from the description of a man who has made “a new appearance” after of a long journey when it is washed and anointed with grease; in a similar sense, the Earth presents a new appearance in spring.
Editor’s note: If you take a stunning photo of the moon or lunar eclipse you want to share with Space.com and our news partners for a potential story or gallery, send pictures and comments to managing editor Tariq Malik at address [email protected].
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