October’s full moon graces the sky this weekend, and skywatchers who look closely may also catch Saturn sitting close by. The moon reaches peak illumination at 12:12 a.m. ET on Monday, October 26, according to EarthSky.
As night falls on Sunday, Saturn will appear gold and sit just a few degrees south of the moon. The moon itself may look more orange as it hangs lower on the horizon, because its light passes through a denser layer of air, shortening blue and violet wavelengths and letting the orange and red ones stand out.
The full moon is called the hunter’s moon. It follows September’s harvest moon, and the name comes from the tradition of using the bright moonlight to hunt for active wildlife and prepare food for winter. Other traditional names include the drying rice moon, the falling leaves moon and the migrating moon.
Noah Petro, chief of NASA’s Planetary Geology, Geophysics and Geochemistry Lab at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, urged viewers to make the sight personal. “I’d encourage folks, while they’re looking at the moon, to ask, ‘What does this time of year mean to me?'” he said.
No equipment is needed. Look east around sunset on Sunday for the moon rising, and keep an eye out for Saturn nearby.
Source: CNN
