Double full moon: How to view in October 2022 in Vancouver
When to see the moon in all its celestial glory.
Stargazers in Metro Vancouver will have a few opportunities to bask in the light of a full moon this week.
According to timeanddate.com, the “Hunter” full moon is scheduled to be at its fullest in Vancouver on October 9 at 1:54 p.m. But the moon will appear nearly full in the days leading up to the big night.
But there’s a reason this full moon might appear longer at its largest.
Marley Leacock, astronomer at HR MacMillan Space Center, narrates Vancouver is great that there is now a shorter interval between moonrise times than at the end of the month.
“That causes the full moon [Oct. 9] and what looks like a full moon [Oct. 10] both rise just after sunset,” she said.
“The alternation of rising times between [Oct. 10] and [Oct. 10] is only 16 minutes – what is very short.”
Metro Vancouver skygazers can catch the rare “double” full moon
However, October is not the only month that has had a short time between rise times. September’s “harvest” moon, on September 10th, had the same time reduction between moonrises that occurred before and after the full moon.
“The difference between the moonrise [Sept. 11] and [Sept. 12] was also 16 minutes,” she explained.
In November, the difference between full moonrise and the moon the next day is 25 minutes, which is closer to the 30 to 70 minute range, with the average being 50 minutes, Leacock said.
“All this to say that it suggests that the reason for this is the equinoxes and some complicated orbital movements of the Earth, Moon and Sun. The full moon appears to rise twice in Vancouver,” she notes.
The moon rises in the east at 6:47 p.m. on October 9 and in the northeast at 7:03 p.m. on October 10. As the Moon begins to move into its gibbous waning phase after October 9, the Moon’s change in illumination is negligible to our eyes, so it still appears full.
The Hunter Moon may have derived its name from the time when humans hunted in preparation for winter. It is also referred to as the blood moon or blood moon, “in connection with either the blood from the hunt or the turning of the leaves in the fall”. The Old Farmer’s Almanac notes that Native Americans gave distinctive names to each recurring full moon to mark the changing of the seasons.