Above, you see last night’s full moon rising in the east behind the tall conifers atop Great Cove Ridge. It soon hurdled them and sailed high and westward over the Cove, chasing one sunset after another:
This was a special moon. It was a “supermoon” because it came within 90 percent of the moon’s closest orbit around Earth. It also went through a partial lunar eclipse by entering part of the Earth’s shadow, although that event was not spectacular.
Native Americans in the northeast called this September full moon the Corn Moon because it appeared at the time for gathering the major corn crop (as well as pumpkins, squash, beans, and wild rice). Colonial farmers here called it the Harvest Moon because it provided enough light to harvest the summer’s crops, including corn, beans, squash, tobacco, wheat, and cotton.
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on September 17, 2024.)