STARCAST: Monday night’s Super Harvest Moon. When, where you can see it in Louisiana

BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — The Harvest Moon is not associated with Native American culture like other full moon names. It gets its name because of its brilliance during the night that aids farmers in harvesting their summer crops.

The Harvest Moon will appear full on Oct. 5-7, but it won’t actually reach its peak illumination until Monday night at 10:47 p.m. CT.

Not only will it look full for these nights, but it will also appear much bigger in the sky than normal. This is due to the moon’s orbit around Earth being elliptical; the distance between the Earth and the moon varies, and this Tuesday, it will be within 90% of its closest point to Earth, making it a Supermoon. This point is called the Perigee. The opposite also occurs, which is a micromoon, the point being called the apogee.

Where to look: On Monday night, look towards the east as the moon rises over the horizon. By midnight, you’ll be able to see the moon towards the south and finally towards the west just before sunrise on Tuesday.

Why is it orange?

When you look at a supermoon and it is close to the horizon, it will typically look red or orange. There is a scientific reason for this; it’s not just a trick of the eyes! When you look towards the horizon at the moon, you are looking through more atmosphere than you would if you were looking straight up into the sky. Our atmosphere scatters blue light (which is why our sky is blue) and allows longer-wavelength colors such as red and orange to reach our eyes. This is also why our sunsets look red and orange! Imagine the atmosphere becoming a filter, the closer it gets to the horizon, and it is “filtering” out the blues of the sky.

Forecast: Unfortunately, this event may be a bit difficult to see due to an increase in cloud cover with the lingering shower potential in tow. Nighttime temperatures are warm and muggy, only falling to the mid and lower 70s. The good news is that the moon will be so bright that it can shine through some of the thinner, high-altitude clouds.

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