11/5/2022 0 Comments Full harvest moon![]() The result of all this is that the Moon doesn't rise at the same time everyday.īut around the date of the Harvest Moon, the Moon does rise at about the same time for several days in a row. Why? Remember that the zodiac is the band of constellations through which the Moon travels from night to night. At any one moonrise, the Moon occupies a particular place on the celestial sphere (the great dome of the heavens), but when the Earth turns toward that point 24 hours later, the Moon has moved off to the east about 12 degrees, and it takes an average of 50 minutes longer for the Earth to rotate toward the Moon and for the Moon thus to “rise.” Think of it as a giant Slinky in which each loop, representing one lunar orbit of the Earth, advances the orbit a bit farther along the spiral path. The Moon’s orbital motion (combined with the larger orbit of the Earth around the Sun) carries it farther eastward among the constellations of the zodiac from night to night. If interested, here is more detailed information about the Harvest Moon. (Warning: Scientific explanation below!) It may almost seem as if there are full Moons multiple nights in a row!
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