Harvest Moon..................

Northern summer changes to fall on Sept. 22nd at 11:09 pm EDT. At that precise moment, called the autumnal equinox, the Harvest Moon can be found soaring high overhead with the planet Jupiter right beside it. The two brightest objects in the night sky will be in spectacular conjunction to mark the change in seasons. The Harvest Moon gets its name from agriculture. In the days before electric lights, farmers depended on bright moonlight to extend the workday beyond sunset. It was the only way they could gather their ripening crops in time for market. The full Moon closest to the autumnal equinox became "the Harvest Moon," and it was always a welcome sight. The other thing about the harvest moon is that because of the spatial relationship between the elliptical orbit of the earth and the moon, the harvest moon seems to last longer at the full than a normal moon. The reason it seems so big is because of something called the ‘moon illusion’. This is a phenomenon not of the moon but of the human brain, which perceives objects that are low in the sky as being much larger than ones which are high in the sky. No one knows definitely why this is. These paintings capture what it had to have been like years ago before we had electricity. This by Samuel Palmer 1830-31 shows how hard people had to work to just get the harvest in. Also by Samuel Palmer around 1833. One can see how it would inspire the artist. The full golden moon has a medieval look to it and one can only imagine what it would be like to be out under the stars with the bright light of this moon. The farmers were at the mercy of the weather back then. Still today but not quite so much as then. Still its a wise man who pays heed to the seasons and what drives them. The moons effect life on earth in so many ways, the birds and beasts and although he has lost touch with nature, mankind too. The Harvest Moon by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ................................................................... It is the Harvest Moon! On gilded vanes..... And roofs of villages, on woodland crests..... And their aerial neighborhoods of nests..... Deserted, on the curtained window-panes..... Of rooms where children sleep, on country lanes..... And harvest-fields, its mystic splendor rests!..... Gone are the birds that were our summer guests,..... With the last sheaves return the laboring wains!..... All things are symbols: the external shows..... Of Nature have their image in the mind,..... As flowers and fruits and falling of the leaves;..... The song-birds leave us at the summer's close,..... Only the empty nests are left behind,..... And pipings of the quail among the sheaves...... The moon should be full on the 29th of September.