JACKSON, Wyo. — A full moon will rise over Jackson on Thursday night, peaking around 10:18 p.m. Skywatchers should also keep an eye out for a partial lunar eclipse that night.
According to NASA, the partial eclipse will coincide with the full moon, and will offer a unique viewing experience. The National Weather Service is calling for a chance of showers before 2 a.m., which could hamper visibility.
“At maximum eclipse, about 93% of the moon’s diameter will be inside Earth’s dark central shadow called the umbra,” NASA advised in its monthly blog post. “The moon won’t be completely covered, but can look dramatically darkened with a rusty, coppery tint along the covered edge. Unlike a solar eclipse, a lunar eclipse is safe to watch with just your eyes.”
August’s full moon has been referred to culturally as the Sturgeon Moon because the giant sturgeon of the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain were most readily caught during this part of summer, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Sturgeon fish have been present on Earth as far back as 136 million years ago but are rare today due to overfishing in the 19th century, the Almanac noted.
The Nêhiyawak (Cree) call the August full moon the “Flying Up Moon,” which describes the time when young birds are finally ready to take the leap and learn to fly. Other names include the “Corn Moon” (Anishnabek, Ojibwe), the “Harvest Moon” (Dakota), the “Ricing Moon” (Anishinaabe) and the “Black Cherries Moon” (Assiniboine). The Tlingit people of the Pacific Northwest traditionally called this time of the season the “Mountain Shadows Moon.”
These names signify that this is the time to gather maturing crops or harvest wild fruits that have ripened, per the almanac.
