#Lunacy moon full

Each cycle begins with the sighting of the thin waxing crescent Moon. In 2016, Ramadan runs from sundown June 5th, to July 4th. You can see a curious future situation developing. However, the country reverts back to standard time during the month of Ramadan… otherwise, the break in the daily fast during summer months would fall towards local midnight. Now, Morocco officially adopted Daylight Saving (or Summer) Time in 2007, opting to make the spring forward during the last weekend of March, as does the European Union to the north.

The Islamic calendar is exclusively based on the synodic cycle of the Moon, and loses 11 days a year in relation to the Gregorian solar calendar. Here’s one wonderful example we recently learned of in our current travels. The Moon can create further complications in modern timekeeping as well. Of course, the astronomical vernal equinox doesn’t always fall on March 21 st, and to complicate matters even further, the Eastern Orthodox Church uses the older Julian Calendar and therefore, Easter doesn’t always align with the modern western Gregorian calendar used by the Roman Catholic Church. Looking east on the evening of April 21st. The future calculation of Easter by the Church gets the Latin supervillain-sounding name of Computus. Easter can therefore fall as late as April 25th, as next occurs on 2038.

#Lunacy moon full

The April Full Moon, can, on occasion be the Full Moon ushering in Easter (known as the Paschal Moon) as per the rule established by the 325 AD council of Nicaea, stating Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the fixed date of the Vernal Equinox of March 21 st. The April Full Moon is also known as the Full Pink Moon to the Algonquin Indians. Wikimedia Commons graphic in the Public Domain.Īnd don’t fear the ‘Green Moon,’ and rumors going ’round ye’ ole internet that promise a jaded Moon will occur in April or May this is 100% non-reality based, seeking to join the legends of Super, Blood, and Full Moons, Black and Blue. Note that in addition to rocking back and forth (libration) and side-to-side (nutation), the Moon appears to swell and shrink in size. The appearance of the Moon through one synodic period. The Moon can appear 33.5′ across during perigee, and shrink to 29.4′ across near apogee. Inclined 5.14 degrees relative to the ecliptic plane, the Moon returns to the same phase (say, Full back to Full) every 29.53 days, known as a synodic month. Thank our Moon’s wacky orbit for all this lunacy. Note that the 2020 Full Moon is also the 2nd of the month… A ‘Mini-Blue Halloween Moon?’ Image credit: Dave Dickinson Mini-Moons by year for the remainder of the decade. What is the Mini-Moon, you might ask? As with the often poorly defined Supermoon, we like to eschew the ambiguous ‘90% of its orbit’ definition, and simply refer to it as a Full Moon occurring within 24 hours of lunar apogee, or its farthest point from the Earth in its orbit.įun fact: the 29.55 day period from perigee to perigee (or lunar apogee-to-apogee) is known as an anomalistic month. The 2015 Mini-Moon was even closer, in the 10 hour range, but you’ll have to wait until December 10 th, 2030 to find a closer occurance. Though apogee on the 21 st is 406,350 km distant – a bit on the far end, but the third most distant for the year by 300 km - this week’s Full Moon is the closest to apogee for 2016 time-wise. Mini-Moon 2016: This year’s Mini-Moon falls on April 22 nd at 5:25 Universal Time (UT), just 13 hours and 19 minutes after lunar apogee the evening prior at 16:06 UT on April 21 st. It’s the smallest Full Moon of 2016, something we here at Universe Today have christened the Mini-Moon. Do you welcome the extra evening light of the Full Moon, or curse the additional light pollution? Either way, this week’s Full Moon on Friday April 22 nd is special.