THE HUNTER’S Moon is set to be visible in the sky this week, becoming the third consecutive supermoon of 2024.
It will also be the brightest supermoon of the year, according to Nasa.
The lunar disk will appear up to 14 per cent brighter and 30 per cent bigger than when the Moon is at its dimmest.
It follows the Harvest Moon in September, which was accompanied by a partial lunar eclipse.
The Hunter’s Moon, also known as the Sanguine or Blood Moon, gets its name from the time of year it takes place.
Mid-October is when tribes used to come together to gather meat for the long winter ahead, according to the Farmer’s Almanac.
Though it is also characterised by occasionally appearing red or orange in colour.
The earliest written use of the term Hunter’s Moon is from a copy of the Oxford English Dictionary, dating back to 1710.
However, the Moon symbolises many different things for other cultures.
For example, for Buddhists, this Moon marks the end of Vassa, a three-month period of fasting for monks that is tied to the monsoons.
While in Myanmar, the October supermoon commences with the three-day Thadingyut Festival of Lights.
The Moon appearing bigger and brighter at this time is not an illusion.
The lunar disk will actually be closer to Earth than it is normally.
The Moon travels around Earth in an elliptical orbit – an orbit that is oval shaped.
This means that there are points where the Moon appears closer to Earth, and further away.
“Each month, the moon passes through the point closest to Earth (perigee) and the point farthest from Earth (apogee),” Nasa explains.
“When the moon is at or near its closest point to Earth at the same time as it is full, it is called a “supermoon.””
The Hunter’s Moon will be visible on 17 October at 12:26pm (7:26am EDT) exactly, according to the Royal Greenwich Observatory.
Around this time, the Moon will look especially full for roughly three days – from Tuesday evening to Friday morning.
From Friday morning, the Moon will start to dim again, returning to its usual size.
However, while it will retract into a waning gibbous, its moonshine does risk obscuring the view of the Orionids meteor shower.
The annual meteor shower will peak in visibility between 21 and 22 October.
The Orionids are the rocky debris from Comet Halley, and will cast up to 25 shooting stars per hour in the night sky.
