Casual Astronomy, Spaceflight News and Lower California Weather

In general, the moon rises about 50 minutes later each day, as it moves in orbit around Earth. All full moons rise around the time of sunset. The Harvest Moon and Hunter's Moon are special because—as seen from the northern hemisphere—the time of moonrise on successive evenings is shorter than usual. The moon rises approximately 30 minutes later, from one night to the next, as seen from about 40 degrees N. latitude, for several evenings around the full Hunter's or Harvest Moons.

Thus there is no long period of darkness between sunset and moonrise, around the time of these full moons. In times past, this feature of these autumn moons was said to help hunters tracking their prey (or, in the case of the Harvest Moon, farmers working in the fields). They could continue tracking their prey (or bringing in their crops) by moonlight even when the sun had gone down. Hence the name Hunter's (or Harvest) Moon.

The reason for the shorter-than-usual rising time between successive moonrises around the time of the Harvest and Hunter's Moon is that the orbit of the Moon makes a narrow angle with respect to the horizon in the evening in autumn, leading the Moon to higher positions in the sky each successive day.

○ Full Moon

WunderPhoto: Moonrise over Washington, D.C. by mcqdc Wednesday August 25, 2010

Exact at
September 23
0917 GMT
5:17am EST
2:17am PST.

Rises near sunset and sets near sunrise. At those times the Moon may seem huge (the Moon illusion) and unusually colored. The yellow/orange/red appearance of the Moon at the horizon is at least partly for the same reason the sky appears blue!




Image from: Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Renewable Energy

The gravitational pull of the Moon accounts for about 2/3 of the influence on Earth's tides with the Sun accounting for the remaining 1/3. On this date the gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun are aligned resulting in stronger tides - higher highs, lower lows and faster flows. (Due to the huge mass and volume of the ocean's water the tidal effect lags behind the phases of the Moon. The delay can be as long as three days at some times and places.)

Also see The Moon And Tides.


Return from ISS (International Space Station) of Expedition 24


Mission: ISS Expedition 24 return
Spacecraft: Soyuz TMA-18

Undocking
September 24
5:34am MSD (Moscow Summer Time)
0134 GMT
September 23
9:34pm EDT
6:34pm PDT.
September 25
6:02am MSD (Moscow Summer Time)
0202 GMT
September 24
10:02pm EDT
7:02pm PDT.

Deorbit
September 24
8:03am MSD (Moscow Summer Time)
0403 GMT
12:03am EDT
September 23
9:03pm PDT.
September 25
8:32am MSD (Moscow Summer Time)
0432 GMT
12:32am EDT
September 24
9:32pm PDT.

Landing
September 24
9:56am AQTT (Aqtobe Time, local time)
0456 GMT
12:56am EDT
September 23
9:56pm PDT.
September 25
10:21am AQTT (Aqtobe Time, local time)
0521 GMT
1:21am EDT
September 24
10:21pm PDT.

The last three crew members of ISS Expedition 24 will return to Earth.

Live updates and video are at
Spaceflight Now | Space Station Report | Mission Status Center.

There will be live coverage on NASA TV. Check the NASA TV Schedule for times.


Vandenberg Minotaur IV Launch

Photo credit: Joe Davila

Mission: Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) "pathfinder" satellite
Launch Vehicle: Minotaur IV
Launch from Vandenberg AFB, California
September 26
0441-0455 GMT
12:41-12:55am EDT
September 25
9:41-9:55pm PDT (local time).

Launch status updates are at
Spaceflight Now | Tracking Station | Worldwide launch schedule.

More details may appear on a launch blog at
Spaceflight Now | Minotaur Launch Report | Mission Status Center
as the launch date nears.

More details on the mission can be found at
Orbital Sciences Corp. - Minotaur IV/SBSS.

A live webcast begins about 30 minutes before launch.


Moon Passes (Over) the Seven Sisters (and won't return until 2023)

September 28, Early Morning
This morning the Moon will pass near the Pleiades star cluster (The Seven Sisters). Six or seven of the stars in this cluster can be seen with the naked eye. Many more can be seen through simple binoculars.

For parts of the southern South Atlantic Ocean and southernmost South America the Moon will pass over some of the stars in the Pleiades cluster.

The Moon won't hide any of the Pleiades again anywhere on Earth until 2023.

Maps and time tables for the disappearance & reappearance of the brightest stars at some cities can be found here with a DATE-TIME of "31 Aug 10". The star names can be found in the chart below.


Image credit: NASA, ESA and AURA/Caltech


Moon Rides the Bull

September 28, Late Evening through Dawn
This mornning the Moon will appear to the left of the bright and orange star Aldeberan. Alderberan is the brightest star and glaring right eye of the constellation Taurus the Bull. With binoculars you can easily see the "V" shaped pattern of stars that forms the rest of the face of the bull. This collection of stars is known as the Hyades star cluster. In the image below Aldeberan is the brightest star and the "V" shaped pattern is tipped to left.

Hyades Star Cluster

Image credit: Zbigniew Kawalec



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