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| The nearly full moon just over the horizon, hiding behind cloud cover. |
Tonight (October 26th) and tomorrow night (October 27th) we are on either side of the full moon, which actually becomes full while it is below the horizon on the morning of October 27th. Despite the cloud cover this evening, I was able to get some wonderful images of the Moon. Unfortunately, I missed it as it was coming up over the mountains; the cloud cover was just too thick.
Tomorrow we will try again. The October full moon, the Hunter's Moon, should present a spectacular show. As it comes up low over the horizon, it should look lightly burnt orange due to the effect of the atmosphere on light waves. The atmosphere scatters blue waves so when we look through the densest part of the atmosphere to the full moon at the horizon, we will be seeing the red light waves reflected to a greater or lesser degree, hence the amber or orange color. And since the Moon is still in perigee, it will be the last supermoon of the season. That coupled with the phenomenon of "moon illusion" makes the moon look overly large as well.
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| The "halo" is created by the effect of moonshine on the high thin clouds that are floating in front of the moon. |
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| The full moon, nearly directly overhead, at midnight. It had just peaked out from behind some clouds. |
The Hunter's Moon rises just after sunset in the east, so check the time of your local sunset and moonrise times so you don't miss the action. Tonight the moon will rise about 45 minutes later and set tomorrow morning over an hour later than today. Do drop by this post tomorrow for additional images of the moon as it rises this evening and sets in the morning.
