Micromoon, Snow Moon, Moonrise, Lake Ontario, Burlington, Halton, ON
Excerpt from www.cnn.com/2024/02/23/world/full-snow-moon-february-scn/...:
February’s full moon, known as the snow moon, is set to peak on Saturday, shining bright around the world in the night sky.
The moon will be at its most full at 7:30 a.m. ET Saturday, according to EarthSky, but to the human eye, the moon will appear full for a couple of days, so the best time to view it will be the nights before and after its peak.
While called the snow moon — a nickname inspired by the heavy snowfall typically seen in February in parts of the United States, according to the Farmers’ Almanac — the golden orb will look almost like any ordinary full moon. But this moon will be a micromoon, meaning it might look slightly smaller than usual.
“It’s just a little bit farther away from Earth than (the moon) typically is,” said Rachel Klima, a planetary geologist and lunar expert with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.
“It’s about 10% smaller. So it may look a little bit smaller. But a lot of the time, when people see a really huge moon, it’s usually because it’s low on the horizon, rather than because of the actual distance of it,” Klima said. “(The micromoon) won’t be super, super tiny. It’ll just be a little bit smaller than your average full moon that you look up at.”
The full moon phase occurs when the moon, Earth and the sun are in alignment, in that order. February’s full moon will occur when the moon is at its farthest point from Earth in its elliptical orbit, known as the apogee, Klima said. The micromoon will also be dimmer than the moon typically looks by about 30%, according to EarthSky, allowing for slightly better visibility of nearby celestial objects, without the average luminous interference.
This year, the snow moon will be seen shining next to constellation Leo’s brightest star, Regulus. Near the moon’s peak, on the night of February 23, the star will be seen just below the orb, according to EarthSky.
Micromoon, Snow Moon, Moonrise, Lake Ontario, Burlington, Halton, ON
Excerpt from www.cnn.com/2024/02/23/world/full-snow-moon-february-scn/...:
February’s full moon, known as the snow moon, is set to peak on Saturday, shining bright around the world in the night sky.
The moon will be at its most full at 7:30 a.m. ET Saturday, according to EarthSky, but to the human eye, the moon will appear full for a couple of days, so the best time to view it will be the nights before and after its peak.
While called the snow moon — a nickname inspired by the heavy snowfall typically seen in February in parts of the United States, according to the Farmers’ Almanac — the golden orb will look almost like any ordinary full moon. But this moon will be a micromoon, meaning it might look slightly smaller than usual.
“It’s just a little bit farther away from Earth than (the moon) typically is,” said Rachel Klima, a planetary geologist and lunar expert with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.
“It’s about 10% smaller. So it may look a little bit smaller. But a lot of the time, when people see a really huge moon, it’s usually because it’s low on the horizon, rather than because of the actual distance of it,” Klima said. “(The micromoon) won’t be super, super tiny. It’ll just be a little bit smaller than your average full moon that you look up at.”
The full moon phase occurs when the moon, Earth and the sun are in alignment, in that order. February’s full moon will occur when the moon is at its farthest point from Earth in its elliptical orbit, known as the apogee, Klima said. The micromoon will also be dimmer than the moon typically looks by about 30%, according to EarthSky, allowing for slightly better visibility of nearby celestial objects, without the average luminous interference.
This year, the snow moon will be seen shining next to constellation Leo’s brightest star, Regulus. Near the moon’s peak, on the night of February 23, the star will be seen just below the orb, according to EarthSky.