Harvest Moon to shine as fall brings on earlier nights

Get the telescopes ready, as Monday is the Harvest Moon.

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Photos: September 2021 Harvest Moon brightens the night sky A 98.8% Harvest Moon rises behind midtown Manhattan, One Vanderbilt, the Chrysler Building, the Spiral, Hudson Yards and the Empire State Building as the sun sets in New York City on September 19, 2021, as seen from West Orange, New Jersey. (Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)

The Harvest Moon is the full moon that comes the closest to the autumn equinox.

The equinox lands on Sept. 22, with the Full Moon landing on Sept. 20, exactly at 7:54 p.m. EDT, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

>> Harvest Moon 2021: 10 stunning photos of September’s full moon

According to EarthSky.org, the Harvest Moon can hit up to two weeks before the official start of fall, or two weeks after.

When it hits in September, it can take the place of the full Corn Moon. If appears in October, it will replace the full Hunter’s Moon, according to the Almanac.

In the Southern Hemisphere, the Harvest Moon happens in March or early April.

Normally a season will have three full moons, but this summer we have had four, with the third of the four full moons being called a Seasonal Blue Moon.

This year, the Harvest Moon will be average-sized but you may think it looks bigger or more orange. However, any moon will look big and orange due to the location near the horizon, according to EarthSky.

The orange color comes also from the thickness of the Earth’s atmosphere, which is thicker at the horizon than higher in the sky, according to EarthSky.