What is Full Moon?
Based on Wikipedia: A full moon is the lunar phase that occurs when the Moon is completely illuminated as seen from Earth. This occurs when Earth is located directly between the Sun and the Moon (more exactly, when the ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180 degrees). This means that the hemisphere of the Moon that is facing Earth (the near side) is almost fully illuminated by the Sun and appears round (while the far side is almost completely unlit). A full moon occurs every once a month. When the full moon moves into Earth's shadow, a lunar eclipse occurs, and all or part of the Moon's face may appear reddish due to the Rayleigh scattering of blue light in Earth's atmosphere.
Lunar eclipses can occur only at full moon, where the Moon's orbit allows it to pass through Earth's shadow. Lunar eclipses do not occur every month because the Moon usually passes above or below Earth's shadow, which is mostly restricted to the ecliptic plane. Lunar eclipses can occur only when the full moon occurs near the two nodes of the orbit, either the ascending or descending node. This causes eclipses to occur about every 6 months, and often 2 weeks before or after a solar eclipse at new moon at the opposite node.
The time interval between similar lunar phases—the synodic month—averages about 29.53 days. Therefore, in those lunar calendars in which each month begins on the new moon, the full moon falls on either the 14th or 15th of the lunar month. Because calendar months have a whole number of days, lunar months may be either 29 or 30 days long. Read More about Full Moon on Wikipedia
And based on NASA, The next full Moon will be Sunday morning, Dec. 3, 2017, appearing "opposite" the Sun (in Earth-based longitude) at 10:47 AM EST. The Moon will appear full for about three days centered on this time, from later on Friday night through early Monday evening, making this another full Moon weekend.
As the last full Moon of Autumn, this Moon is known as the Frost Moon or the Moon Before Yule. The Maine Farmer's Almanac first published Indian names for the full Moons in the 1930's, and according to this almanac, the Native American name for this full Moon was the Frost Moon, as frosts began to occur at the end of Fall. Europeans called this the "Moon before Yule" (Yule is an old northern European winter festival that is now associated with Christmas).
Since this full Moon occurs about 17 hours before perigee (the Moon's closest approach to the Earth in its orbit), this full Moon is the first of three supermoons. At the time of the full Moon, the Moon will be will only be 492 km (306 miles) further away from the Earth than it will be at its closest (perigee), making it appear 13.6% larger in diameter and 29% larger in area than if it were the distance of apogee on December 18, 2017. In addition, because the Earth will be at its closest to the Sun (called perihelion) in early January, the sunlight reaching and reflecting off the Moon this time of year is about 7% more intense (than at aphelion in early July), making winter-time supermoons even brighter.
So everyone, on the 3rd of December 2017 coming soon, please don't forget to see the full moon on the sky at 10:47 AM EST.
What's gonna be great with this Super Full Moon? Let's wait to see all together....
Wikipedia Image: Full Moon 2010
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