YOUR PHOTOS: The August Full “Super” Moon rising over Metro Atlanta

The full “Sturgeon” Moon rose over the Metro Atlanta area on Monday night and again Tuesday night, providing the backdrop to some breath-taking photos!

August Full Moon over Atlanta August Full Moon over Atlanta. Credit: Brennen T

This is the first of 4 super moons in 2024:

Monday, August 19, 2024
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Thursday, October 17, 2024
Friday, November 15, 2024

Why is this a “Supermoon’?

This month, the full moon earns the “super” label because it reaches its full phase within a few days of perigee, the closest point in the Moon’s not-so-circular orbit.

This makes it appear about 7% larger in the sky than average (hardly perceptible) but about 14% brighter than an average full moon.

The best time to view the supermoon is around sunset as the Moon is rising. This is because the Moon appears even bigger because your eye has the horizon, along with trees and buildings, to compare it with.

I heard this was also a ‘Blue Moon’?

You may have seen a “blue” label applied to this full moon.

The most common definition of a blue moon is the second full moon within a calendar month. However, this moon fits the much less commonly seen definition of the third of four full moons in a season.

Blue Moons rarely appear blue, but it does happen!

Locations near a recently erupted volcano may have enough ash in the sky to produce a blue hue to the moon.

Why is it called the ‘Sturgeon Moon’?

You may have heard August’s full moon refereed to as the “sturgeon moon”, the Native American name assigned to it by the Old Farmers Almanac.

But names for full moons are as diverse as the native peoples and places they live! Others include:

Blackberry or berry moon: Ojibwe (Great Lakes region)
Black cherry: Assiniboine (northern plains)
Summer moon: Comanche (southern plains)
Dry moon: Catawba (South Carolina)
End of Fruit Month moon or drying up moon: Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (North Carolina)
Corn moon: Stockbridge-Munsee (Wisconsin), and Oneida (upstate New York & Great Lakes region)
Hot moon: Tunica-Biloxi (Louisiana)
Geese shedding their feathers moon: Arapaho (great plains)
Courting moon: Choctaw (Mississippi and Louisiana
Moon young ducks begin to fly: Cree (northern plains of Canada)
Cedar bark for hat & baskets: Haida (Alaska)
end of summer: Kalapuya (Oregon)

Reminder: I’d love to see your photos of the sky! Here are a few photos you have submitted of your view of the Super Blue Sturgeon Moon!

Joel Weeks Full Moon "My vantage point right at dusk." Photo: Joel Weeks

Andrew Demske - Full Moon Photo of the Full Moon over North Georgia. Credit: Andrew Demske (ANDREW_DEMSKE)

That’s not the sun, it’s the Super Blue Moon rising over Tybee Island!

A “super” moon occurs when the moon is at/near its closest point to earth while full.

The seasonal “blue” moon occurs when there are 4 full moons in a season instead of the typical 3.

📸: Billy Harrell pic.twitter.com/5k8CzmHAG8
— Andrew Gorton WTOC (@AndrewGortonWx) August 20, 2024