September’s Full, Micro, and Harvest Moon.

Legacy Osborn

Friday nights full Harvest Moon is considered to be one of the most popular moons of the year. Friday the 13th happened to fall on a full moon, not just any ordinary full moon, but a micro harvest moon. First off, it’s a full moon which means the moon is in the lunar phase when the moon appears fully illuminated from Earth’s perspective. Secondly, it was the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox (September 23rd) which makes it known as a ,”Harvest Moon”. A full moon on Friday the 13th is extra spooky.

Harvest Moon’s are associated with September, although that isn’t always the case.

A full moon hasn’t been visible on Friday the 13th since October 13th, 2000.

This full moon rose among split time zones, which means people who live in the Eastern time zone did not get the chance to experience a Friday the 13th full moon, because the moment that the moon turned full was after midnight, specifically 12:33 am on Saturday, September 14th.

Even though the full moon happened on September 14th for Easterners, the moon will appear “fuller” on Friday evening.

According to NASA, the moment the moon turned full was before midnight for those who live in Central, Mountain, or Pacific timezones.

This full moon is also a micro moon, which means that it was a little dimmer than usual, because it is the furthest distance away from earth. This is known as apogee. Click on this NASA side-by-side comparison to see a comparison of the moon at perigee and the moon at apogee.

The name “Harvest Moon”, got it’s name many years ago from farmers throughout the Northern Hemisphere, because on Autumn evenings the Harvest moon helped illuminate their field so they could harvest crops.

Other names for this full moon are the full corn moon and full barley moon, which are based on it’s proximity to harvest time for those two crops.

Photo of the Harvest Moon.
Pictured here is the Full, Micro, Harvest Moon.