WYOMING — This one’s for the hunters.
The full moon reached its peak just after 10 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 25, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Like the recent Harvest Moon, the timing of the Hunter’s Moon is based on the autumnal equinox, which fell on Sept. 22 this year. The Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the equinox, so it can either be in September or October. The Hunter’s Moon is the full moon that follows the Harvest Moon, so it can be in either October or November.
The almanac notes that Native Americans have been naming the moons for centuries. The Hunter’s Moon is so named for the time of year when Tribes would be gathering meat ahead of winter. The moon names for October used by many Tribes reference the changes experienced during the fall season.
According to Western Washington University, Newe (Shoshone) called October’s moon “naa-mea’” meaning, rutting. The Indé (Apache) called it “the time when the corn is taken,” the Hinanaeina (Arapaho) called it the “falling leaves moon,” and the Nakodabi (Assiniboine) called it “anukope” moon, which means “joins both sides.”
The Tsis tsis’tas (Cheyenne) called it the “freeze begins on stream’s edge moon” and the Nermernuh (Comanche) called it the “yuba mua,” meaning fall moon. The Nêhiyawak (Cree) called it the “opinahamowipizun,” which means “moon the birds fly south.” The Kaigini (Haida) which occupied what is now Alaska called October’s moon, “cha’áaw kungáay,” which means “bears hibernate moon.”
On Tuesday night, the moon will be passing near the Pleiades star cluster, according to NASA.
“Many ancient cultures had stories associated with the Pleiades, due in part to the fact that the star cluster is visible from almost everywhere on the globe,” NASA wrote in its monthly blog post. “To spot them yourself, look east in the evening as the Moon and cluster climb higher into the night sky. The Pleiades appear as a slightly fuzzy grouping of six to seven stars. They are visible to the unaided eye, but binoculars or a telescope reveal more spectacular detail.”
