Anticipate Tonight, See the Full Hunter’s Moon of October 2022 With Pumpkin Orange Coloring the Sunset

The Hunter's Moon, October's full moon, shall emerge huge and orange-hued upon this horizon starting approximately sunset on Sunday (Oct. 9).

Amateur astronomers can glimpse the almost full moon for many evenings preceding and following the Hunter's Moon - so named because it formerly signified a period of hunting in anticipation of the impending wintertime.

This Hunter's Moon represents the first full moon after the Harvest Moon, which this year happened on September 10th. The Harvest Moon is the initial full moon following the autumnal equinox, which marks the beginning of autumn within the northern hemisphere.

Space.com reported that the Hunter's Moon would be at its brightest at about 4:54 p.m. It will continue to be below the horizon on Sunday at EST (2054 GMT). This means that gazers must linger until dusk to view the full moon.

Hunter's Moon's Orange Hue

Since this full moon rises over the skyline on Sunday, it may look bigger and more orange, perfect for the colder seasons and the run-up to Trick - or - treating. It's due to the moon's illusion and the fact that it is near the skyline. Its orange hue results from the fact that as humans stare at the full moon near the horizon, the lighting it shines towards the earth is traveling through a larger portion of Earth's atmosphere.

Blue light, which has a short - wavelength than red light, is very effectively scattered by particles in the Earth's atmosphere. Blue photons, as a result, bounce around all over the sky before reaching human eyes, which is why the sky looks blue. On the other hand, larger wavelength red photons pass right past these molecules and into the eyes, as an article from Asteroid News explains.

Whenever red photons projected by the moon must transit through the thickest region of the atmosphere more toward the horizon, the likelihood that they will be bounced about increases. This explains how the moon seems redder towards the sky; however, why is it larger? This may be due to how humans see items rather than physiological consequences.

Previous and Upcoming Forms of the Moon

Once the moon is closer to earth, astronomers evaluate it as a lesser astronomical body (that just seems tiny in the sky) rather than contrasting it with earthy features such as houses and shrubs (which appear larger by comparison). This gives the crescent the illusion of being huge.

The moon deception is not to be confused with a 'supermoon,' that's, a full moon or new moon that looks greater in the sky because the moon is closer to the Earth whenever it happens, as stated in a report from Farmer's Almanac. The very last supermoon year 2022 was the August full moon, popularly called Sturgeon Moon.

The Beaver Moon occurs on November 8th, following the Hunter's Moon through October. The final lunar of 2022 is the appropriately named Cold Moon, which will occur on December 7.

Check out more news and information on Space in Science Times.