Big Bright Oversize Harvest Moon Tonight

October 6, 2006, 3:43 pm
Posted by J.B. Elliott in General Thoughts
Rating: 0/5   Votes : 0
Weather should be perfect for viewing. Here is the information from spaceweather.com
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Space Weather News for Oct. 6, 2006
http://spaceweather.com

HARVEST MOON: Tonight's full moon has a special name--the "Harvest Moon." It is the full moon closest to the northern autumnal equinox. Long ago, before electric lights, farmers relied on the Harvest Moon to light up their fields at night, allowing them to harvest autumn crops even after sunset.

The Harvest Moon of 2006 is a big one--almost 12% wider than some full Moons we've seen earlier this year. Why? Because the Moon is near perigee, the side of the Moon's lopsided orbit that comes closest to Earth.

When the Harvest Moon rises tonight, go outside and look around. You might see some strange things: full story at http://spaceweather.com .

The Harvest Moon of 2006 rises on October 6th, and if you pay attention, you may notice a few puzzling things:

1. Moonlight steals color from whatever it touches. Regard a rose. In full moonlight, the flower is brightly lit and even casts a shadow, but the red is gone, replaced by shades of gray. In fact, the whole landscape is that way. It's a bit like seeing the world through an old black and white TV set.



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Posted by Matt Marshall  
on October 6, 2006, 3:56 pm
J.B., that reminds me of when we drove to Denver last November after dark with clear skies and a full moon. We were coming back on Hwy 6 between I-70 and Price, UT, and the the red desert near the Book Cliffs was such a beautiful sight, although it was just gray tones. Have you ever made that drive? It's one of my favorites anywhere.

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Posted by  
on October 6, 2006, 4:18 pm
Sure have made that drive, Matt, a number of times. I can't think of anywhere better to see a full moon than the Book Cliffs. Much of Eastern Utah, especially east of Price, reminds me of the moonscape.

Don't know how it is now...but one afternoon we were driving across that region, Even though I had an excellent radio in my car, we could not pick up a single radio station, FM or AM, for quite a distance. Even the powerhouse KLS, the 50,000 watt CBS station out of Salt Lake, it was nothing but static.

We felt cut off from the world!

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Posted by Matt Marshall  
on October 6, 2006, 4:25 pm
It's still the same...it's still vast desolation between Price (and the little towns near it) and Green River. That's one thing I love about it. We just have to make sure the car is in good working order. :-)

It reminds me of the moon, too. Down in Canyonlands NP, the "Land of Standing Rocks" in the Maze District looks like Mars.

Did you receive my fall foliage pictures from Logan Canyon?

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Posted by  
on October 6, 2006, 8:41 pm
Matt...
Did not receive them but I sure would like to. Logan Canyon is my favorite of the Utah Canyons...along with Farmington. Did you send them to:

jbelliott@centurytel.net
...or
jb.elliott@theweathercompany.com

either address is OK. jbelliott@charter.net is no longer valid.

Thanks...

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Posted by Matt Marshall  
on October 6, 2006, 11:45 pm
J.B., I sent them to jbe@theweathercompany.com. I'll resend them tomorrow to one of the addresses you listed. Right now, I've got to hit the hay. :-)

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Posted by Craig  
on October 6, 2006, 7:58 pm
Just got in from taking my pup for a walk. Been out under than bright moon for about an hour! It's beautiful here in TX tonight... hope it's crystal clear there in AL too. Good stuff...

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Posted by Susan  
on October 6, 2006, 8:07 pm
It doesn't look that big from here, right now, but it certainly is bright. I didn't realize tonight was the night.
I love the harvest moon, probably because I love fall so much.
Anyone familar with the Neil Young song 'Harvest Moon'? I can hear the words 'on this harvest moon'.
Thanks for the reminder, JB
I'm going to put the song on the player and go out on the porch and watch and enjoy...

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Posted by   www
on October 6, 2006, 9:30 pm
well, I learned something new and about myself as well! They used to call me "cat eyes" 'cause I could see so well in the dark to play or walk, etc..I'm 44 and thought everybody could see what I could. I read the whole article on Space Weather then I went out back where there's no other lights just cow pasture and I could see all the colors and even took a book out and could read just fine! Everything shows up in contrast as it does during the day..only shadows are deeper. Pretty cool! Weather is great, just got in from Fri. night football, looking forward to next weekend, we'll be camping at Clear Creek..the weather sounds perfect..

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Posted by  
on October 6, 2006, 9:42 pm
Debby, I did the same thing sorta. I read that spaceweather story also. So I grabbed a water bottle out of the car and read all of the words on the label. I could even make out this(*) on it. Ditto on the colors 2. I do remeber reading something about letting your eyes adjust to the moonlight though.

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Posted by  
on October 7, 2006, 6:09 am
The spammers strike again.

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Posted by  
on October 7, 2006, 7:15 am
I wish these people would NOT send this junk on the blog !) Looks like James is going to block them again.

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Posted by  
on October 7, 2006, 7:32 am
I was driving west on Deerfoot Parkway before sunrise and that big harvest moon setting in the west was awesome. I looked even more than 12% larger.

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Posted by  
on October 7, 2006, 7:58 am
Hey it looks like they took the spam junk off yea, now if we just could just keep it off this blog.

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Posted by  
on October 7, 2006, 8:11 am
That is worse than having to determine zero's from the O's. Hurray for the deletion of the spambots!

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Posted by   www
on October 7, 2006, 10:36 pm
I took a pic of the moon the other night.

http://www.so-there.net/uploader/files/1/harvestmoon10606.jpg

I wanted to take a pic of it while it was still on the horizon and HUGE looking but shooting through all that atmosphere makes it blurry.

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