This week's full Hunter's Moon will be the brightest supermoon of the year


This week's full Hunter's Moon will be the brightest supermoon of the year

Skywatchers have had lots of treats these late summer and fall months. Our rare October comet is still gracing the skies this week, visible to the west just after sunset.

And our full Hunter's Moon technically happens on Thursday, but will appear full Wednesday through Friday this week. The bonus is that it will be not just a supermoon, but the brightest of four consecutive supermoons we're enjoying this year.

This is our third supermoon - which look slightly bigger to the human eye than regular moons - we've had rise in a row. Our last supermoon of the year will be in November.

This month's full moon is called the Hunter's Moon because it comes after the September Harvest Moon. It has carried this name since the 1700s, explains a NASA skywatching column.

"According to the Farmer's Almanac, with the leaves falling and the deer fattened, it is time to hunt," the NASA piece says. "Since the harvesters have reaped the fields, hunters can easily see the animals that have come out to glean (and the foxes that have come out to prey upon them)."

This week's moon will officially be full on Thursday morning at 7:26 a.m. We'll see it rise as a full moon later that night.

Native American tribes have had other names for our full moons over the centuries. October's moon has also been known as the Travel Moon, the Dying Grass Moon, or the Sanguine or Blood Moon.

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