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Ephemeris: 09/25/2026 – Our Harvest Moon marks the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival
This is Ephemeris for Friday, September 25th. Today the Sun will be up for 12 hours and 0 minutes, setting at 7:34, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:34. The Moon, 1 day before full, will set at 7:29 tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow the Moon will be full. And since it’s only four days past the autumnal equinox, this makes it the Harvest Moon. This full moon also marks the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival to honor the Moon and the story of Chang’e a mortal woman to took an elixir and flew off to the Moon and became a goddess. Another story revolves around the Jade Rabbit pounding Medicine. Beside the face one can see in the dark maria on the moon, we call the Man in the Moon, the Chinese saw the figure of a rabbit seen on the face of the Moon. He is a companion to Chang’e, and has a mortar and pestal with him. He pounds out the medicine that makes the inhabitants of the sky immortal. The Chinese lunar probes are named Chang’e, their rovers: Yutu, the Jade Rabbit.
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
Ephemeris: 09/19/2024 – The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival
This is Ephemeris for Thursday, September 19th. Today the Sun will be up for 12 hours and 17 minutes, setting at 7:44, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:28. The Moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 8:30 this evening.
Our Harvest Moon also marks the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. I’ve been too busy with the lunar eclipse to cover it on Tuesday. It is to honor the Moon and the story of Chang’e a mortal woman who took an elixir and flew off to the Moon and became a goddess. Another story revolves around the Jade Rabbit pounding Medicine. I sometimes talk about the figure of a rabbit seen on the face of the Moon. He is a companion to Chang’e, and has a mortar and pestle on the Moon with him. He pounds out the medicine that makes the inhabitants of the sky immortal. The Chinese lunar probes are named Chang’e. Chang’e 3 landed on the Moon in 2013 and sent out a lunar rover named Yutu, the Jade Rabbit. They have made other landings since.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
