Believe it or not, just about every phase of the moon has a name. The names come from different cultures. In December last moon, there were two full moon phases in the moon. The first full moon is known as a Christmas Moon. (From Colonial American Tradtions) The 2nd full moon, which rarely happens is known as a Blue Moon because its the 2nd recoccuring moon in the month. This month, in January, it is known as a Wolf Moon.
And you know how I love wolves. hehe
The Wolf Moon comes from the Native Americans and it's named because of how the wolves used to howl at the moon on cold winter nights.
Interesting Tidbit: The lunar cycle is roughtly 29 days.
Tonight's moon will be especially bigger than most. Why? Taken from Yahoo: The moon is, on average, 238,855 miles (384,400 km) from Earth. The moon's orbit around Earth – which causes it to go through all its phases once every 29.5 days – is not a perfect circle, but rather an ellipse. One side of the orbit is 31,070 miles (50,000 km) closer than the other.
So in each orbit, the moon reaches this closest point to us, called perigee. Once or twice a year, perigee coincides with a full moon, as it will tonight, making the moon bigger and brighter than any other full moons during the year.
The Moon over Turin, Italy, Dec 2009
Taken from the Native American culture is a list of the Full Moons for the upcoming year:
FEB 2010 - Snow Moon
MAR 2010 - Worm Moon
Interesting Note: In 2010 this is also the Paschal Full Moon; the first full Moon of the spring season. The first Sunday following the Paschal Moon is Easter Sunday, which indeed will be observed six days later on Sunday, April 4.
APR 2010 - Pink Moon
MAY 2010 - Flower Moon
JUN 2010 - Strawberry Moon
JUL 2010 - Buck Moon
AUG 2010 - Sturgeon Moon
SEP 2010 - Harvest Moon
Traditionally, this designation goes to the full moon that occurs closest to the Autumnal (fall) Equinox. The Harvest Moon usually comes in September, but (on average) once or twice a decade it will fall in early October.
OCT 2010 - Hunter's Moon
NOV 2010 - Beaver's Moon
DEC 2010 - Cold Moon
Reference for this blog entry:http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20100129/sc_space/biggestandbrightestfullmoonof2010tonight
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