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(NEXSTAR) – Eyes up, skygazers, the harvest moon that rises this week will be the last supermoon of 2023. The bright, full moon will be visible between Thursday night and Friday morning, barring any cloud cover where you live.
The “harvest moon” falls closest to the start of autumn and got its name before the advent of electricity, when farmers had to rely on the moon’s light as they worked into the night harvesting their crops, according to NASA.
You may also notice one or more of the three planets accompanying the harvest moon: Saturn, Jupiter and Mercury, according to Space.com.
This year’s harvest moon follows the rare blue supermoon, the closest full moon of the year, which lit up the sky in late August.
A supermoon happens around the time when a full moon passes closest to Earth in its orbit. About a quarter of the full moons in a year will be supermoons, according to NASA.
Thinking about relaxing inside and skipping this week’s supermoon? You’ll have to wait until the next harvest moon, Sept. 18, 2024, to see another one, according to Space.com. The second and final supermoon of the year will fall on Oct. 17, 2024.
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