The hunter's moon – the first full moon of fall – will rise Thursday, Oct. 17, in the eastern sky around sunset. As an added bonus, this month's full moon will also be a supermoon.
Although it will reach peak illumination at 7:26 a.m. ET, the moon will be below the horizon at that time, "so wait until sunset to watch it rise and take its place in the sky," the Old Farmer's Almanac said.
The harvest moon, which rose in September, is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox. The hunter’s moon is the first full moon following the harvest moon.
The earliest use of the term “hunter’s moon,” cited in the Oxford English Dictionary, was in 1710.
October’s full moon is called the hunter's moon because it's the time of year when, historically, hunters began collecting food and storing it for the long and cold winter months ahead, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.
"Many moons ago, Native Americans named this bright moon for obvious reasons," the almanac said. "The leaves are falling from trees, the deer are fattened, and it’s time to begin storing up meat for the long winter ahead."
When the moon’s orbit brings it closer to Earth than usual, the cosmic combo is called a supermoon.
When this happens, the moon can appear slightly bigger and brighter than normal.
"Different publications use slightly different thresholds for deciding when a full moon is close enough to the Earth to qualify as a supermoon," NASA says. "Because the orbit of the moon is not a perfect circle, the moon is sometimes closer to the Earth than at other times during its orbit."
On average, supermoons appear about 7% bigger and about 15% brighter than a typical full moon.
This is the third of four straight supermoons: After Oct. 17, the final supermoon of the year is Nov. 15.
Other nicknames for October’s full moon include the falling leaves moon, the migrating moon, the drying rice moon and the freezing moon.
Joined in the night sky by the hunter's moon will be four planets: Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars, according to Space.com. They will all rise in the hours before or after the full moon rises, depending on your location.
Contributing: Mariyam Muhammad, Columbus Dispatch
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