Full Hunter’s Moon May Be Big And Orange: Best Time To Look In VA

VIRGINIA — Any evening this weekend is a good time to plan an outdoor activity — weather permitting in Virginia — and take in the full hunter’s moon around sunset. It peaks Saturday, but rises around the same time for several nights.

The National Weather Service forecast for Virginia this weekend calls for sunny skies during the day, with a high temperature of 83 degrees. The evening hours will be partly cloudy, with the thermometer expected to drop to 58 degrees.

The moon will reach peak illumination at 4:24 p.m. Eastern Time Saturday, but will still be well below the horizon. At sunset — that’s around 6:15 p.m. local time — watch the moon peak over the horizon.

Although it’s not a supermoon, the full hunter’s moon may appear larger and more orange than usual. That’s due to what’s called a “moon illusion.”

“When we observe the Moon near the horizon, it often looks HUGE — whether it’s peeking over the shoulder of a distant mountain, rising out of the sea, hovering behind a cityscape, or looming over a thicket of trees,” NASA public engagement specialist Preston Dyches wrote in a post earlier this year.

“But here’s the thing: It’s all in your head. Really. The moon’s bigness is an actual illusion, rather than an effect of our atmosphere or some other physics.”

You could just sit back and enjoy the moon. But if you want proof, “try looking at the moon through a paper tube, or bend over and look backward between your legs,” Dyches wrote. “When you view it like this, the moon will be nowhere near as big as it had seemed.”

Or, take a photo of the moon when it’s near the horizon and another when it’s high in the sky. “If you keep your camera zoom settings the same, you’ll find the moon is the same width, side by side, in both photos,” Dyches wrote.

The moon may actually appear to be a bit squashed when it’s near the horizon, the result of the atmosphere acting like a weak camera lens that distorts images, Dyches explained.

It’s believed the hunter’s moon moniker is a seasonal reminder to hunters to prepare for the winter by hunting, as it’s the time of year when game animals are active as they fatten up for winter. The bright moon made it easy to spot deer and other animals, as well as foxes and wolves that came up to prey on them.

The earliest reference to “hunter’s moon” was in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1710. Other names for the moon are the sanguine or blood moon, which The Old Farmer’s Almanac is either a reference to the blood from hunting or vibrant autumn leaves.

The hunter’s moon and harvest moon are unique in that they don’t always fall in October and September, as they are tied to the autumnal equinox.

The harvest moon occurs nearest to the date of the fall equinox — usually in September, but occasionally in October. Accordingly, the hunter’s moon, always the first full moon to follow the harvest moon, can be in October or November.