Ephemeris: 10/26/2026 – The Falling Leaves Moon
This is Ephemeris for Monday, October 26th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 27 minutes, setting at 6:40, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:14. The Moon, at full today, will rise at 6:34 this evening.
I’ve always thought that the full moon after the Harvest Moon, the nearest moon to the autumnal equinox, was the Hunter’s Moon. The Anishinabeq. native peoples of this area also had names for the full moons, 13 of them. They did vary among the various tribes based on the seasonal effects of their locations. Before they adopted our calendar of 12 defined months based on the solar calendar, they could have 13 full moons in a year, since a solar year is 11 1/4 days longer than 12 lunar months. However, they seem to have adapted to our calendar to an extent. How do we handle that 13th full moon in a year? We call it a Blue Moon, because one of the months must have a second full moon. The October full moon is called the Falling Leaves Moon. And, (check’s outside) They’re right!
The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
The prompt to create the above image: “I’d like for you to create an image illustrating the Anishinaabeq Falling Leaves Full Moon, with the full moon rising in the distance. A dimly lit landscape with a tree or a few, mostly bare of leaves in the foreground.” The unexpected campfire scene was a nice bonus.
