Full Moon Bonfire
Thursday, May 23, 2024
Location: On the beach between BW 1 and 2
Sunset – 8:16 pm
Moonrise – 8:49 pm
High Tide – 9:08 pm
Full Flower Moon
Kick off the Memorial Day Weekend with a pleasant evening with a bonfire on the beach with friends and neighbors. Visit with existing friends and meet new.
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 a full moon.
Hopefully, the weather remains accommodating. People ask if the bonfire will be held if it’s rainy. The bonfire will be canceled 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 earlier sunset and moonrise times give us time to enjoy the evening.
To check out the other night sky observations, click below to continue reading.
Other night sky observation opportunities:
The International Space Station is to be visible on May 23 at 10:46 pm. Unfortunately, this is after the time the bonfire must be extinguished but if you are still awake, look for it moving from the north to the northeast.
There is a scheduled SpaceX Starlink launch for 10:33 pm on May 22 (the day before the bonfire). We’ll have to monitor for potential schedule changes. Starlink is a chain of satellites that reside in low-Earth orbit in outer space. The satellite constellation was launched into orbit in 2019 by SpaceX and provides worldwide, broadband internet services. It appears brighter than the space station and looks like a stream of lights are running across the sky. ISS Starlink app provides the dates and times it would be visible in the next 5 days. This app says Starlink should have visibility for 8 minutes beginning at 1:29 am from South to East. This is another visibility I won’t stay awake to see.
Put these dates for the Full Moon Bonfires on your calendar:
- Saturday, June 22 (day after the full moon)
- Sunday, July 21
- Monday, August 19
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: May – Full Flower Moon: Flowers spring forth in abundance this month.
Other names: The names of the Moon are most often related to natural signs of the season or to activities that were done at this time of year. Some of our favorites include:
• Budding Moon (Cree)
• Egg Laying Moon (Cree)
• Frog Moon (Cree)
• Leaf Budding Moon (Cree)
• Planting Moon (Dakota, Lakota)
• Moon of Shedding Ponies (Oglala)
I found another website that says the Cherokee Indians called it the Planting Moon and the English Medieval name was the Hare Moon. Another website shays the Chinese call it Dragon Moon.
-Submitted by Judy Morr