October has been a big month as far as full moons are concerned, with the harvest moon coming a few weeks back on October 1st, followed by a rarely-ever-seen full moon treat on Halloween night.
Halloween may look a little different this year due to the pandemic, but it will feature a spooky spectacle to cap off a month of glorious skywatching.
Yep, there’s going to be a real, full moon in the sky on All Hallows Eve this year.
Halloween’s blue moon is actually quite rare, despite that many of the Halloween scenes you see on decorations, etc., also include a full moon.
Regardless of what we see in the media culture, a full moon on Halloween night is quite a rare occurrence; happening once every 18 or 19 years in any given part of the world.
The last blue moon on Halloween across all time zones in the United States was in 1944, according to the Farmers’ Almanac.
The Halloween full moon will also be known as the “hunter’s moon,” which is the first full moon to follow the harvest moon.
“This is the month when the game is fattened, and it is time to start preparing for the coming winter,” according to timeanddate.com. “Traditionally, this included hunting, slaughtering and preserving meats for use in the coming winter months.”
The Halloween hunter’s blue moon will peak at 10:49am eastern time, on October 31st.
Viewing conditions will depend on the weather and skies over Beaufort and the rest of the Lowcountry. The moon will look full for a day before and a day after its peak.
If you’re too busy watching spooky movies, or doing whatever the coronavirus equivalent of trick-or-treating might be, you’ll have to wait until 2039 for another global full moon on Halloween night. The entire 21st century will see only five total Halloween full moons: 2020, 2039, 2058, 2077, and 2096.
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