Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Aye mateys this is Cap’n. Bob with Ephemeris for Talk like a Pirate Day Thursday, September 19th.  Arrr. That’s the extent of it for me. The sun will rise at 7:26.  It’ll be up for 12 hours and 18 minutes, setting at 7:45.   The moon, at full today, will rise at 7:39 this evening.

This is the Harvest Moon, the closest full moon to the autumnal equinox, which is four days away.  It is the most famous and useful of the full moons of the year.  In the days before electric lights, the bright moon, rising before and just after sunset extended twilight and allowed farmers extra light to gather in the crops.  It is this part of the moon’s cycle that it rises much less than the average 50 minutes later each night.  It will rise only 26 minutes later tomorrow night.  The moon is in a part of its orbit in which it is most rapidly moving northward and is also staying out longer each night.  We will be seeing the bright moon in the early evening for the next few days.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

The moon on 5 nights at 8:30 p.m. for September 17 to the 21st, 2013 showing the Moon’s northerly motion. Created using Cartes duCiel.