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| Chinese Moon Festival 2009 | 09.30.2009 20:30 |
| The Chinese Moon Festival this year occurs on October 3rd. How is the date of the Mid-autumn festival determined? The holiday marks the 15th day in the 8th month of the lunar calendar year, i.e. the 8th full-moon of the year. So on 10/3/2009 the moon will be its fullest and brightest. Also notable in the sky along with the full moon will be the planet Jupiter shining brightly as well. Jupiter is very easy to spot as the 2nd brightest object in the night sky. This is because Earth recently passed Opposition with Jupiter, which is the point at which Earth is closest to Jupiter during Earth's yearly orbit. Uranus is between the moon and Jupiter this night, but a better time to track it down would be when the moon is not full and brightening up the whole sky. | |
In Chinese culture, a dessert called "Moon cakes" are eaten during the Moon Festival. Usually they are about 1.5 inches thick and square, about 3 inches on each side. See the images below of one (tasty) example: | |
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What is especially unique about this year's Moon Festival is that less than 6 days afterwards, the LCROSS launch vehicle upper-stage will crash into the Lunar South Pole. You can watch it live online as seen from the LCROSS spacecraft. | |
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© 2008, Andrew Ging