After the “Pink Moon” in April, the “Strawberry Moon” in June, and the fantastic celestial display put on by the “Blood Moon” in July, sky watchers were treated to another spectacular sight this morning with the rising of the August full moon.
Popularly known as the “Sturgeon Moon” — so named by Native American tribes to signify that the green-hued lake sturgeons are easier to catch during this time of the year — the last full moon of summer goes by many names.
According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac , the full moon of August was dubbed the “Corn Moon”, or the “Full Green Corn Moon,” by the tribes in northeastern North America. At the same time, the Ojibwa — who occupied the territories of modern-day southeastern Canada — referred to this month’s full moon as the “Blackberry Moon.”
On a typical year, the August full moon is the eighth such occurrence in the calendar. However, 2018 has already had eight full moons so far, counting the “Blue Moons” that occurred in January and March — two full moons each. This is something of a rarity, happening just once every two decades or so, the Inquisitr previously reported. This makes the 2018 “Sturgeon Moon” the ninth full moon of the year.
Other names for the August full moon include the “Wheat Cut Moon,” as it was known to the tribes in San Ildefonso and San Juan, the “Moon When All Things Ripen,” deemed so by the Dakotah Sioux, the “Fruit Moon,” the “Barley Moon,” and the “Hungry Ghost Moon” — in relation to the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival — NASA reports.
The Moon will be opposite the Sun at 11:56 UTC Sunday, August 26 and appears full the nights of the 25th and 26th. This full Moon goes by sturgeon, fruit, or barley and corresponds to the Hungry Ghost Festival in China. ???? pic.twitter.com/66z4wXsrSv
— NASA Moon (@NASAMoon) August 26, 2018
Regardless of what you choose to call it, the last full moon of summer graced us with its presence this year on August 26. For star gazers in the Northern Hemisphere, the “Sturgeon Moon” adorned the sky bright and early in the morning at 7:56 a.m. EDT, when the full moon of August reached peak fullness, Newsweek reported.
Meanwhile, sky watchers in the Southern Hemisphere were able to catch the “Sturgeon Moon” in the afternoon.
“Sky watchers in Sydney will see the nearly full moon rise at 6:17 p.m. on August 26, and it will cross the meridian at 12:04 a.m. on August 27 at an altitude of about 68 degrees, as opposed to about 39 degrees in New York,” Space explained yesterday.
Sunday’s full moon goes by many names, including the Corn Moon, the Sturgeon Moon, the Fruit Moon, the Barley Moon, the Hungry Ghost Moon and the Raksha Bandhan Moon. Find out when to look for moonrise and other upcoming celestial events: https://t.co/NUkvhqgA1o pic.twitter.com/oXCX0RyhSF
— Cassini (@CassiniSaturn) August 24, 2018
Viewers in the United States had a great chance of spotting the “Sturgeon Moon” in a dazzling performance right after sunset, when the nearly full orb joined some of the major planets in the southern sky, the Washington Post reported.
“This year’s ‘Sturgeon Moon’ aligns nicely with the planetary party that is now ongoing,” stated the media outlet, noting that “shortly after sunset, you can catch the nearly full moon teamed up with Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus stretching across the southern horizon.”
