Full moons

The full moon represents a lunar phase when the moon lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the sun. The moon, when it is full, can be seen in full light reflecting off of the sun. This is only half of the moon as the dark side of the moon is on the opposite side.

There was an American space shuttle named Galileo that took an infrared composite image of the moon on December 7th, 1992 while it was on its way to Jupiter. These images are shown on a few scientific websites.

A lunar eclipse can only happen during a phase of the full moon. This is when the moon passes fully through the Earths’ shadow. It takes about 27 and one third days for the moon to orbit around the Earth. Add another two days for the moon to catch up with the sun. This is where we get the approximate thirty day monthly cycle. The full moon cycle is, in actuality, fourteen syndic months.

A true full moon may take an additional fourteen and a half more hours to complete a monthly cycle due to the moon’s keplerian orbit. Full moons have been associated with temporal insomnia, insanity and lycanthropy. The terms lunatic, lunacy and werewolf come from the mystery of the moon.

There are some psychologists that claim there to be no strong evidence for behavior effects involving a full moon. These studies are not consistent with other studies made around the world. A dog in Spain during a full moon may bite or attack a human, but a dog in New Jersey may just howl at the full moon. There are some Paganistic groups that hold a monthly ritual they call Esbat during each full moon. A majority of Chinese religions offer up sacrifices to their ancestors and gods during a full moon.

The Chinese and Islamic calendars are based on the phases of the moon. They do not start with the full moon as day one of a month however. The Chinese calendar always has the full moon in the middle of a month and they hold several festivals on the day of a full moon. The mid-autumn festival and the lantern festival are just two examples.

There are several different names that have been given to the full moon of every month over the past centuries. January is the moon after Yule in English, the Wolf moon in Native American and the old moon in the antiquities. February is the wolf moon in English, the snow moon in Native American and the hunger moon in the antiquities. March is the Lenten moon in English, the worm moon in Native American and the crow moon, crust moon, sugar moon or sap moon in the antiquities.

April is the egg moon in English, the pink moon in Native American and the sprouting grass moon or fish moon in the antiquities. May is the milk moon in English, the flower moon in Native American and the corn planting moon in the antiquities. June is the flower moon in English, the strawberry moon in Native American and the rose moon or hot moon in the antiquities. July is the hay moon in English, the buck moon in Native American and the thunder moon in the antiquities. August is the grain moon in English, the sturgeon moon in Native American and the red moon in the antiquities.

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