dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (03/06/85)
Tonight's full moon is the nearest one to the vernal equinox. More -- after this. March 6 Full Moon Nearest the Equinox Look in the east after sunset Wednesday evening for the bright round orange globe of the moon -- full tonight -- and due to rise just as the sun is going down. Tonight's full moon is the nearest one to the spring equinox, which comes this year on March 20. Tonight's full moon is doing something just opposite the legendary Harvest Moon -- the full moon nearest the autumnal equinox -- generally visible in our evening sky in September. The Harvest Moon is characterized by moving along a path that makes a very narrow angle with the horizon. That means there's only a short time between moonrises on successive nights for the Harvest Moon -- and for several nights in a row, the Harvest Moon may look entirely or nearly full. Tonight's moon -- the full moon nearest the spring equinox -- rises on a path that's nearly straight up and down with respect to the eastern horizon. That's the angle of the ecliptic, or path of the sun and moon, in the evening at this time of year. Instead of rising only a short time later on successive nights, like the Harvest moon, this moon takes longer than usual to rise. Sometimes, in northerly latitudes, the moon rises more than an hour later each night, instead of the 30 minutes or less you might notice around the time of the Harvest Moon. Tonight's full moon also has a name -- or really names. It's called the Sap Moon, Crow Moon, or Lenten Moon. It'll rise in the east around sunset -- and be visible all night long. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin