The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1900-09-08
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
THE HARVEST MOON"
RAxv1IIr- Mn August

RAYvILLE, Nd, August 30, 1900.
Editors Union I'm your issue of august z0tn
was an item concerning the Harvest MOOD,
and as the editors appear to be unable to give
their correspondent the desired information,
will, with their permission. and as briefly as Is
possible, give the reasons why. 1t Is cailed tne
harvest mOOn,n and also when and why IL
occurs.
IL was so called in England because it occurs
at the time of the principal harvest in that
country, when its light can be taken advantage
of by the farmer to continue his labor after
sunset.
There are two full moons in q year which rise
each evening just few minutes later than on
the preceding evening, and this can only
happen in the months Of September and Vc no
harvest moon" and the one occurring In Octo-
Der is called the 'hunter's MOON"
my SaRg NO
edge of astronomy by means of celestial
sphere, by which the location and movements
shape, diurnai motion and countries of the earth
globe. .'"A = '
Gle passing around the earth east and west,
everywhere equally distant from the poles.
The equinoxial. or equator of the heavens, Is
the great circle formed on the concave surface
The ecIiptic is the plane of the earth's orbit
or the great circle which the sun appears to de-
scribe annually among the stare. 1t crosses the
equinoxial ObliQuely in two opposite points
which are called the equinoxes. The sun rises
in one of those points about the 21st of March,
and from then until the 23d OF September Its
path is on the north side of the equinoxial and
the days are longer in the northern hemisphere
than they are south of the equator, and from
the time the sun rises in the opposite point at
the autumnal equinox the days become longer
in the southern hemisphere than they are north
The eciiptic is divided into twelve equal arcs
of 30 degrees each, called signs. This division
tinued eastwardly round to the same point; be-
ginning at ''Aries" and ending at pisces, !"
6e Weigh Of
enters about the 10th of each month. At the
equator the moon rises throughout the year at
nearly equal intervals of 48x minutes later each
day, and the harvest moon" is unknown there.
At the polar circles the moon in autumn from
the first to the third quarter. rises as the sun
sets, and at the poles where the sun Is absent
for half the year the full moons In winter shine
constantly without setting.
The different lengths of the lunar night in
different ATTITUDES is owing to different angles
made by the horizon and different parts OF
the moons orbit. In northern ATTITUDES the
smallest angle made by the ecliptic and the
horizon is when Aries rises and Libra sets, the
greatest angle is made when Libra rises and
Aries sets.
with the horizon when they rise, in the latitude
of New York, but when they set they make an
angle Of I2K degrees in the same latitude. The
daily difference of the moons rising when in
these signs in the latitude of the New England
States is about ~ minutes, but when it rises in
the opposite signs of Virgo and Libra the daily
difference is almost four (D times as great. AS
there can be but two full moons in a year that
rise with so little variation of time, yet the
phenomenon of the moon rising for week
at nearly the same time occurs every month
but in winter Pisces and Aries rise about noon,
in the spring they rise with the sun, and in sum-
mer they rise at midnight, and it can only hap
pen at the full moon In the months of Septem-
Der and October. when the sun is in Virgo and
Libra. South of the equator the occurrence is
just the reverse as Virgo and Libra rise at as
small angles with the horizonas Pisces and Aries
do in northern ATTITUDES, and the harvest
moon" occurs there in March and the hunters
moon" in April when the sun is in Pisces and
| Aries.
| 1t will be observed that the greater the dis
lance from the equator the fess the dinerence IN
| time between the daily rising of the moon in
| September and October. 1t will also be OBJ
served that this decreased difference in its daily
| rising in those months will be noticed about
three days before and three days after the moon
| is full. p. s. CROSS.