With super moons already having occurred this year during a blue moon this past August and during the harvest moon in September, another one is on the horizon.
The hunter’s moon will be visible on Thursday, Oct. 17.
Three to four super moons occur every year when the full moon coincides with its closest position to earth in its 27-day orbit, according to NASA.
This won’t be a normal super moon, either, as just 11 hours before it is set to be full, it will also arrive at its perigee — the moon’s closest position to earth in its elliptical orbit of an elongated circle just under 222,000 miles away, according to space.com.
It will be the closest the moon has been to its perigee while being full among the four super moons that will be seen in 2024.
The furthest point in the moon’s orbit, or its apogee, is approximately 251,000 miles away.
Due to the moon becoming the full hunter’s moon close to the same time it hits its perigee, it will be 14% bigger than a standard full moon and appear about 30% brighter. It will also trigger higher-than-average tides.
Unfortunately, the forecast in Lewis County shows rain and clouds in the sky, but keep an eye out because, if you’re lucky and catch a break in the clouds, you’ll get a chance to see the largest super moon of the year.
The last forecasted super moon of the year will be the beaver moon, which will appear next month on Friday, Nov. 15.
Other full moon names include the cold moon for December, wolf moon for January, snow moon for February, worm moon for March, pink moon for April, flower moon for May, strawberry moon for June, buck moon for July and the sturgeon moon for August.
More information on this month’s super hunter’s moon can be found at https://tinyurl.com/33usw8jw.
To learn more about super moons, visit https://science.nasa.gov/moon/supermoons/.
