This Friday the 13th set aside your superstitions and gaze up at the night sky for a very lucky view that won’t come again soon. A rare harvest moon is appearing this week and this is how to watch.
According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the Harvest Moon is a full moon that appears nearest to the start of fall. This year fall begins on Sep. 23 which makes the full moon hitting the skies on Sep. 13 the official Harvest Moon. What sets the Harvest Moon apart from other full moons is that the moon rise moves forward in 30-minute increments each night, instead of the typical 50 minutes, so the moon appears in the sky earlier in the sky for several days.
photo: Juhasz Imre via Pexels
What makes this particular Harvest Moon even more special is that it happens to be landing on the infamous Friday the 13th. The last time a Harvest Moon occurred on Friday the 13th was in 2000 and it won’t happen again for another twenty years on Aug. 13, 2049.
To get a good look at the Harvest Moon, gaze up at the sky just after sunset on Sep. 13, if you are in the Central, Mountain or Pacific time zones. For those on the East Coast you’ll have to stay up past bedtime to see the peak of the Harvest Moon at at 12:33 a.m. ET on Sep. 14.
—Shahrzad Warkentin
RELATED STORIES
Nickelodeon Slime Is Headed Into Outer Space for Science
You Can Soon Book a Vacation on the International Space Station—Sign Us Up Now
Does Your Kid Need an Astronaut Pen Pal? Um, Yes. Yes They Do
Need some fresh ideas?
Related reads
