Kristina Bergen | Special to the Fitzhugh
Attention werewolves: Get ready to howl at the moon on October 31.
Halloween night 2020 is not just playtime for ghosts, ghouls, and creepy things that go bump in the night – it’s also the second full moon of the month, often referred to as a Blue Moon.
When you look up at our neighbouring satellite, you will see a 100 per cent illuminated Halloween full moon.
But don’t expect the lunar surface to actually look blue from the pristine views of Jasper Dark Sky Preserve.
The phrase “once in a Blue Moon” means something is so rare you’d be lucky to see it in your lifetime.
And the lunar event of October 31 fits the meaning of that phrase perfectly.
According to the Farmer’s Almanac, it’s the first time a Halloween full moon will appear to the entire world since 1944, when the Second World War was raging.
Rare as that is, we likely won’t see it again until 2039, never mind a Hunter’s Blue Moon on Halloween night.
What is a Hunter’s Moon?
The full moon that shines nearest to the autumn equinox is called a Harvest Moon, and the full moon that follows it is called the Hunter’s Moon.
Usually the Harvest Moon comes out in September, followed by the Hunter’s Moon in October, but this year they both occur in October, on the first and last days of the month.
What you’ll see, where to look
The three main landforms on the moon are craters, seas, and highlands.
The highlands are old, mountainous regions, some of which are taller than Mount Everest. They also make the Rockies seem young enough to still be potty-training. Rock samples from the Apollo 16 and 17 missions dated the mountains of the moon at 4-billion-plus years-old.
Look for the highland mountains scattered around the moon’s south pole.
Craters
Impact craters cover the surface of the moon, evidence of the many meteors that crash into the lunar surface.
One of the most visible craters is Tycho, a sharply defined impact crater about 108 million years old that is also close to the south pole in the southern highlands.
Tycho is easily identified by bright rays that shoot outward from its center. These long spokes reach out as far as 1,500 kilometres.
Mares
The dark areas of the moon were once thought to be seas of water, but are now understood to be the tracks of ancient lava flows that surged to the lunar surface from the moon’s crust.
The most famous of the so-called “seas” is the Sea of Tranquility, which was the landing site of the Apollo 11 lunar module in the first manned moon landing.
You know, Buzz and Neil’s playground.
When Neil Armstrong told Houston that “The Eagle has landed,” it was from the Sea of Tranquility, which you should be able to see quite clearly with the naked eye on Halloween night.
Kristina Bergen is manager of strategic initiatives with the Jasper Planetarium. Her favourite Blue Moon is the one you can slow dance to, performed by The Marcels.
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2020-10-29 12:23:18Z
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