Post by Joanna on Jul 7, 2017 17:10:23 GMT -5
Full Thunder Moon: July 9, 2017
On Sunday, July 9, those blessed with a night of clear skies during the stormiest month of the year will be able to see the Full Thunder Moon dominate the sky alongside Saturn. The moon will be completely full at 12:07 a.m. EDT. For observers on the East Coast, the almost full moon will rise around 4 hours before it reaches peak fullness. Saturn will rise in the east a little sooner, around 6:30 p.m. EDT.
Situated in the constellation Sagittarius, the full moon will appear just below Aquila (The Eagle) and above Nunki (Sigma Sagittarii), a medium-bright star of magnitude 2.3. As usual, during the Northern Hemisphere’s summer, the moon is above the horizon for a relatively short time – only about 10 hours – reaching a maximum altitude of 29.3 degrees above the horizon in New York City on the night of the Full Thunder Moon.
How the Thunder Moon got its name. The traditional full moon names, like Thunder Moon, reflect the seasons in many temperate Northern Hemisphere climates. In many parts of the continental U.S., thunderstorms are more frequent in July as the weather heats up, so Thunder Moon was an apt name for some Native American cultures. Yet there was and is a lot of variety in the associations made by American Indians. Algonquin speakers called it the Buck Moon, for the period when the antlers on deer begin growing. In the Pacific Northwest, the Tlingit called it the Salmon Moon.
Given that in man locations crops begin to ripen in July, it’s no surprise that the Cherokee Indians called it the Ripe Corn Moon, or that among European colonists, it was called the Hay Moon. Many Europeans called the July moon the Mead Moon, because it appeared at the same time as large honey yields. (Mead is an alcoholic drink made from fermenting a mix of honey, yeast and water.)
When and where to see it. Tomorrow, July 8, moonrise is as follows:
Eastport, Maine: 7:46 p.m.
Minot, North Dakota: 9:17 p.m.
Little Rock, Arkansas: 8:03 p.m.
Las Vegas, Nevada: 7:40 p.m.
Seattle, Washington: 8:42 p.m.
Source: Jesse Emspak, Space, June 29, 2017.