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2023 Harvest Moon

Tonight will be the last super moon of 2023 known as the Harvest Moon.

Each year there are four Super Moons which occur as the moon passes closest to the earth in its orbit during a full moon phase. This makes the moon appear a decent amount brighter and larger in the night sky. It typically occurs in the last week of September or first week of October.

30 minutes after sunset the moon will appear orange thanks the light reflecting off the moon having to pass through more of Earth's atmosphere scattering the longer wavelengths of red and orange. As the night continues on the light from the moon will have less atmosphere to pas through causing it to appear brighter with more of a white coloration.

The best way to view this occurred late Thursday night, but the harvest moon will still appear Friday night and Saturday night. Make sure to get a good view of this occurrence by looking at the sky away from well light areas such as cities.

Article Topic Follows: Weather

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Chance Gotsch

Chance Gotsch grew up just south of St. Louis and moved to Columbia to attend the University of Missouri to pursue a degree in Atmospheric Sciences.

His interest in weather begin as a child when he used to be afraid of storms.

Chance joined the ABC 17 Stormtrack Weather Team in February 2021. He is currently the weekday noon meteorologist.

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