Once In A Blue Moon

The moon this week was really lovely and I was wondering, since it was so large and orange, if it was a harvest moon?

No, last week’s moon was a blue moon or the second full moon of the month. The harvest moon is the first full moon closest to the autumn equinox. The autumn equinox will come this year on September 22^nd, so the harvest moon will be on September 18 or 19^th, either late night or early morning depending on the time zone. Of course, if you miss the harvest moon on the 18^th or 19^th, don’t despair. The moon will appear very full and round for several nights. During the harvest moon there is not a long period of darkness between sun set and moon rise, which allowed farmers the opportunity to stay in the fields longer and harvest, during pre tractor light days. The full moon following the harvest moon will be the hunter’s moon and will come in mid October.