Harvest Moon

Tomorrow the sun will pass directly over the earth’s equator and the Fall Equinox will be underway, or perhaps it will have taken place. Along with the Fall Equinox, star gazers and horizon hunters will be awed by the Harvest Moon, a concurrence that hasn’t happened in 19 years, as well as a small star-like light close to the moon; “star-like” because it’s not actually a star, but the planet Jupiter. This will be the closet Jupiter has come to Planet Earth since 1963.

“Harvest Moon” was coined by Native Americans, denoting the proper time to harvest crops and bring the yield in pre-winter weather, and to give thanks to all living things of the fields and earth that provided them with life. Let’s give thanks

Photograph by Jeff Kiessel, Ludington Daily News/AP