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If someone is trying to wake up some dark spirits, tonight is the night.
Hallowe’en it is here (October 31), along with a full “blue moon,” that is, the second full moon in a single month. All Halloween full moons are quite rare, occurring roughly once every 19 years. But this is the first time since 1944 that the trick or treat has been aligned with a blue moon, according to the Farmer’s Almanac.
The spooky light show in the sky should start soon enough for even the first candy hunters. Moonrise should occur between 5:50 AM and 6:40 PM local time in most parts of the United States, with some variation between different latitudes and positions within time zones. Right after moonrise, the moon should be visible on the horizon. As the night progresses, it will rise higher and shine brighter, illuminating the tricksters coming out of the egg houses (no, don’t do that!).
Related: Gallery: The Fantastic Full Moon
Much of the US should have night skies clear enough to see the blue moon while trick-or-treating, although clouds are in the forecast for New Jersey, New York, and part of New England, as well as the Northwest. Pacific and central Minnesota. , according to the National Metereological Service.
The first full moon in October, which came out on the first day of the month, also had a special name: “Harvest Moon,” referring to the first full moon. Moon after the September equinox. (The second full moon of autumn, this blue moon, sometimes takes the name “Beaver Moon”, according to POT.)
The blue moon (or Beaver Moon) occurs thanks to a routine coincidence of the Gregorian calendar months and the regular lunar phases. It is a term that seems to have originated in the 1940s, according to Sky and Telescope.
However, there are some special things that are happening with the moon right now.
For one thing, it is at the farthest point in its orbit from Earth, some 31,000 miles (50,000 kilometers) further away than its average 239,000 miles (385,000 km). That makes this full blue moon a “Micro Moon” too, though it should look slightly smaller than a “Super Moon” (that’s the Moon closest to Earth in its orbit).
More spectacularly, NASA researchers this month confirmed the presence of expansive deposits of frozen water on the moon. Part of it is sandwiched between grains of moondust. But more of it may exist as vast frozen lakes, hidden in the darkest parts of deep craters, as reported by Chelsea Gohd for Live Science’s sister site Space.com. And just a few months ago, researchers showed that Tunnels probably exist under the lunar surface., big enough to house entire cities.
One last thing to look up in the sky Halloween night sky: Mars. The Red Planet is closer to Earth right now, even as humans get closer and closer probes and plans for human missions to its surface. At this time, no human has been there. But some Halloween, sooner or later, there might be visitors playing dress-up in (or under) the Martian crust.
Originally posted on Live Science.
