When Is the Harvest Moon in 2022?
By Anne Buckle. Published 7-Sep-2022
The Harvest Moon is on September 10 this year. But the wonderful thing about this Full Moon is that, in the Northern Hemisphere, it can feel like it lasts for a few days.
The Harvest Moon in 2019 above Lake Michigan, Chicago, USA.
©iStockphoto.com/Big Joe
When Is the Harvest Moon?
The Full Moon on September 10, 2022 at 09:59 UTC is the Harvest Moon.
The Harvest Moon is the Full Moon closest to the autumnal (fall) equinox which happens this year on September 23 at 01:03 UTC.
When is equinox in my location?
What’s So Special About This Moon?
It is easy to see that the Harvest Moon is named after the harvest season in the Northern Hemisphere. But, there is also an astronomical reason why this Full Moon is connected to the harvest, and it has to do with the autumnal equinox.
Simply put, during this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere, we get the closest consecutive moonrises of the year around Full Moon. With successive moonrises coming around the same time of day, it may feel like there are several Full Moons in a row.
In the past, if you were a farmer needing to get your crop in quickly, the extra moonlight meant that you could work and harvest into the evening. Hence, the Harvest Moon.
Why is the Full Moon in the daytime?
The Full Moon Gains Time
The Moon spends more time over the horizon at Third Quarter and significantly less at First Quarter at this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere. To gain this extra time, it rises earlier than usual during the intervening period, with the earliest moonrises of all coming around Full Moon.
“Roughly speaking, in terms of rising and setting, the Moon does over the course of a month what the Sun does over the course of a year,” says Graham Jones, timeanddate’s resident astrophysicist.
“In the days around the Harvest Full Moon, the Moon is piling on extra minutes in the length of time it spends above the horizon in the Northern Hemisphere. In a way, it’s similar to how the Sun ‘gains time’ in the sky during the spring.”
How to See the Harvest Moon
All you need to know to see the Harvest Moon is your location’s moonrise and moonset times.
Full Moons rise around sunset and set around sunrise and you can still catch an almost Full Moon the next day—and the day after. The Moon appears full in the days before and after the exact time of the Full Moon.
Make sure to keep an eye on our weather reports for up-to-date predictions!
Big Moon? It’s an Illusion
Watching the Full Moon at moonrise or moonset lets you view it close to the horizon. This tricks our brains into thinking it is much bigger than it actually is. This is known as the Moon Illusion.