Where can I view pictures of the full moon last Friday?
Talk to most astronomers, and you’ll find that they have a thing about the full moon. The reason is that a full moon is the No. 1 cause of natural light pollution. Its brilliant light floods the night sky, dimming all the stars and nebulae, causing astronomers to pack away their telescopes and watch television instead. However, to dedicated skywatchers like us, the moon has its own fascination, especially when it is full, as it will be Friday, Sept. 4. After all, this is the only object in the solar system on which we can see a wealth of detail without any optical aid whatsoever. The full moon is particularly appealing at this time of year when it rises just around sunset and hovers low in the southern sky most of the night. There is a whole set of traditional names for the various full moons throughout the year. The most famous of these “named” full moons is the harvest moon. Seeing the beautiful big moon rising in the east this week, many people will think it is the harvest moon, but
Talk to most astronomers, and you’ll find that they have a thing about the full moon. The reason is that a full moon is the No. 1 cause of natural light pollution. Its brilliant light floods the night sky, dimming all the stars and nebulae, causing astronomers to pack away their telescopes and watch television instead. However, to dedicated skywatchers like us, the moon has its own fascination, especially when it is full, as it will be Friday, Sept. 4. After all, this is the only object in the solar system on which we can see a wealth of detail without any optical aid whatsoever. The full moon is particularly appealing at this time of year when it rises just around sunset and hovers low in the southern sky most of the night. The first thing to look for is the man in the moon, or perhaps you can more easily see the woman in the moon or even the rabbit in the moon. One way or another, you can probably see a pattern of some sort in the play of bright and dark markings across the moon’s fa
