Full moon astrology puts the Hunter's Moon on a tight schedule for Boston skywatchers. It reached peak illumination at 12:11 a.m. Monday, but some of the best viewing was expected at sunset around 5:45 p.m. on Sunday in the Boston area.
Marianne Mizera pointed readers to that early-evening window, when the moon could rise low in the east and take on an orange-reddish glow. The moon would still look full through Tuesday as it moved into its waning gibbous phase, giving observers more than one chance to catch it.
Boston sunset and the Hunter's Moon
The timing matters because the Hunter's Moon is October's traditional full moon name, tied to the shift from gathering crops during September's Harvest Moon to catching game for the long winter. The bright Moon rising soon after sunset provided extra evening light, allowing hunters to track game longer into the night.
Old Farmer's Almanac put it this way: "The bright Moon rising soon after sunset provided extra evening light, allowing hunters to track game longer into the night,"
New England skywatchers and Orionid meteor showers
Clear skies were forecast across New England, which gave skywatchers in Boston and across the region a better shot at seeing both the moon and the lingering Orionid meteor showers. The Orionids peak last week, but cloudy skies blocked much of the view in the Northeast, leaving this week’s clearer stretch as the better bet for anyone who missed them.
The Orionid meteor showers come from dust and debris shed by Halley's Comet, so the same night sky can offer two different sights: the bright full moon and slower streaks from the meteor shower. The moon may wash out some fainter meteors, but the clearest evenings still give readers a narrow chance to catch both.
Beaver Moon and Cold Moon
Two more full moons are next on the calendar: the Beaver Moon on Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 9:53 a.m. EST, and the Cold Moon on Dec. 23 at 8:28 p.m. EST. Both will be back-to-back supermoons, a pattern that happens because a supermoon is a full moon at or near perigee during its 27-day elliptical orbit, and supermoons always appear consecutively.
NASA says a supermoon can appear about 30 percent brighter and up to 14 percent larger than the faintest moon of the year, and they happen three to four times a year. For readers in Boston and New England, that makes Sunday night’s view part of a short run of unusually bright moons, with the Cold Moon set to be the closest and brightest supermoon of the year.
