Mid-Autumn Festival 2024 will welcome 3 amazing phenomena at the same time
VTC News•17/09/2024
According to NASA, this year's September supermoon (the full moon of the Mid-Autumn Festival) is a rare event in which three astronomical phenomena occur at the same time.
Specifically, this full moon will peak at around 9:35 a.m. on September 18, Vietnam time. However, observers in Vietnam can see the full moon for three nights from Tuesday, September 17 to Thursday, September 19. This year's Mid-Autumn Moon is also considered a supermoon, the second consecutive time since the super blue moon that occurred last month. It is expected that next month and the month after that will also welcome two supermoons in a row, making it four supermoons in a row at the end of this year. NASA said that this year's Mid-Autumn Moon is also special in that it will occur at the same time as a partial lunar eclipse. Accordingly, the Moon will enter the dark side covered by the Earth at around 8:41 a.m. on September 18, Vietnam time. At 9:13 a.m., the lunar eclipse will be easily observed in areas where it is still night on Earth, covering 8% of the upper edge of the Moon. This event can be observed for about 30 minutes. Unfortunately in Vietnam it is daytime at that time so we will not be able to watch the lunar eclipse.
The supermoon of last August (full moon of the seventh lunar month) seen in Los Angeles. (Photo: AP)
Finally, according to astrophysicist Teresa Monsue of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, this supermoon will be a super blood moon. Because all three lunar phenomena occur at the same time, this Mid-Autumn Moon can be considered very rare. A blood moon occurs during a partial or total lunar eclipse. The Earth blocks the Sun from fully illuminating the Moon, causing sunlight to swirl around the Earth's magnetic field. This magnetic field filters out the Sun's light, leaving most of it from the red part of the spectrum, giving the Moon a red or orange hue. Similar to a supermoon, a blood moon occurs several times a year. According to CNET, the next time an event with three of these phenomena occurring simultaneously is expected to occur in September 2033 and then in 2042. According to NASA, in China, Vietnam, and several other Asian countries, this full moon corresponds to the Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional harvest festival. In China, other names for the festival include the Mooncake Festival and the Reunion Festival (when a wife visits her parents and then returns to celebrate with her husband and in-laws). A key part of the festival involves making offerings to Chang'e (which is also the name the China National Space Administration gives to its lunar missions). In South Korea and North Korea, this full moon corresponds with the Chuseok harvest festival, when Koreans return to their hometowns to gather with their families to pay respects to the spirits of their ancestors. This full moon also falls during the Japanese Tsukimi or "moon viewing" season, also known as Imomeigetsu (literally "sweet potato harvest moon") because of the tradition of offering sweet potatoes on the night of the full moon.
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