Night Sky Photography -- 10-01-20 -- The Harvest Moon & Mars Rising

Greetings & Salutation, fellow stargazers! 

This evening the first of two -- count em! -- two October full moons rose in the east. The first full moon of autumn following the fall equinox (September 22nd) is also known as the Harvest Moon, named so because it dates back to the time before electricity when farmers depended on the full Moon's light to harvest their crops late into the night near the fall harvest season.

 

Here are the photos I took of the Full Harvest Moon rising over downtown Chester, South Carolina. The first shot is the risen full moon over SC Highway 9 in the east with the city street in the foreground. The second shot is a close-up of the Harvest Moon itself.

 

About an hour later I captured another shot of the risen Harvest Moon and Mars in the east. Here in the first photo y'all can see our beautiful full moon shinning against the clouds with the now visibly larger Mars glowing red nearby. In the second close-up photo, you can see all the visible landmarks on the Lunar surface, including the dark "seas" that make up the Man in the Moon, and Tycho Crater on the bottom left of the moon's surface.

 

This is going to be quite the month for planetary photography and stargazing, especially for The Red Planet as Mars reaches its closest approach to our Earth on the night of Tuesday, October 6th, and then reaches opposition between Earth and the Sun on Tuesday, October 13th. 

 

The second full moon in a month is referred to as a Blue Moon, even though Luna herself will not actually turn blue. The second full moon in October will fall of October 31st -- Halloween night! How cool is that! I'm praying for clear skies to get a great shot of this year's Halloween Blue Moon.

Well folks, I hope that y'all enjoyed my photos for the evening, please check back tomorrow night when I hope to capture another good shot of Luna and Mars meeting in the east after sunset.

Until then, have a wonderful Dixie day and be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all.