‘Harvest Moon’ brings closer and larger moon to our sky tonight

Make sure you look up to the sky tonight because you may notice the moon looking closer and lager than normal.

It’s called a Harvest Moon.

Brian McNamara is a Professor and University Research Chair in Astrophysics at the University of Waterloo and says the Harvest Moon occurs when we approach the Autumn Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere.

“The Sun’s path across the sky is lower as we approach autumn and it means the angle that the moon rise makes with the horizon is smaller. The time between sunset and moon rise is very short so it will look like we have a full moon for a couple of days.”

McNamara says this moon event allows us to reflect on where we fit in with the universe.

“These are moments to reflect on our cosmic perspective rather than our everyday toils. It gives us a scene of where we fit in with the whole scheme of things so I think it is exciting in that respect.”

This year’s Harvest Moon is also the last lunar eclipse we will see this year but won’t be visible to us in North America. You can watch the live eclipse here.

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