Full Moon Bonfire
Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Location: On the beach between BW 1 and 2
Sunset – 7:47 pm
Moonrise – 7:56 pm
High Tide – 8:44 pm
Full Blue Moon
Yes, this is the second full moon for August so it is called a Full Blue Moon. The evenings are still warm but a fire provides ambiance for an enjoyable evening on the beach with friends, family and neighbors.
To keep things simple, each person brings what you want: food, drinks, chairs and a stick of firewood for a big bonfire. Nothing will be provided but a beautiful beach, a bonfire and, hopefully, a full moon.
We hope the weather remains accommodating. People ask if the bonfire will be held if it’s rainy…. the bonfire will be cancelled if it is raining or rain is threatening as few would be comfortable attending.
By terms of the permit, the fire needs to be out no later than 10:00 pm. The later sunset and moonrise times ease the challenge for scheduling dinner but still gives us time to enjoy the evening.
You may have heard that there are four supermoons in a row this year; the August 30 supermoon is the third supermoon of this unusual sequence. “Supermoon” is a catchy term for what astronomers call “a perigean full moon” which is when the full moon happens at (or very near) the exact time when the moon is closest to us in its orbit. A supermoon exceeds the disk size of an average-sized moon by up to 8% and the brightness of an average-sized full moon by some 16%. You may not perceive the difference in size but a supermoon will appear brighter in the sky. The August 30-31 supermoon will be the closest, biggest, and brightest full supermoon of 2023. It’s exceptionally close in moon miles from Earth (222,043 miles). The next time we’ll have a closer full supermoon is November 5, 2025, when the moon lies 221,817 miles from Earth. The full moon will peak at 9:36pm per Almanac.com.
Other night sky observation opportunities:
- There are no flyovers of the International Space Station this week.
- According to Space Tourism Guide, August 30th is when Saturn and the moon are at their closest, the two will appear 2°16′ apart in the constellation Aquarius.
- No SpaceX launches are shown after August 29.
Put these dates for the Full Moon Bonfires on your calendar:
- Friday, September 29 (Dean will need help with this one.)
- Sunday, October 29 (The day after the full moon when the moonrise is after sunset.)
- Monday, November 27
There’s always plenty of room on the beach for everyone, so invite a friend or bring your houseguests.
How the full moon got its name:
- Per The Old Farmer’s Almanac:
August – Full Sturgeon Moon: The sturgeon of the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain were said to be most readily caught during this full moon.
Other names: - Black Cherries Moon (Assiniboine)
- Corn Moon (Algonquin, Ojibwe)
- Flying Up Moon (Cree)
- Harvest Moon (Dakota)
- Mountain Shadows Moon (Tlingit)
- Ricing Moon (Anishinaabe)
I found another website that says the Cherokee Indians called it the Fruit Moon and the English Medieval name was the Corn Moon.
Another website says the Chinese call it Harvest Moon.
-Submitted by Judy Morr