🌕 How You Can Experience The 'Harvest Moon'!

Astrophysicist Brad Tucker joins Jonesy & Amanda to chat about the Harvest Moon.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jersey and Amanda gem Nation.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Big full moon in the sky this morning. I noticed
on my way to work. You have to catch a
glimpse of it overnight. You may have noticed it's looking
bigger than normal. That's because it's a harvest moon. What
is a harvest moon? How long will it hang around?
What does it all mean? Because now to our resident astrophysicist,
tavvery casual Brad Tucker, Hello, Brad, how's it going?

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Good to talk to you again? Brady's so it's good
to talk to moon and all things the loony and lunacy.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, does it mean that we have to set up
the altar and start sacrificing people?

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Is that? Is that what it's about? I mean yeah,
I mean you know it was Tuesday, so you know
that was on the plants. Now it's a good enjoyment,
I think, you know. The heart the harvest moon just
comes from also the North American name for moons, right,
they're kind of seasonal, h and they generally had these
names for different months. So obviously October it starts to

(00:57):
become harvest season. So it does become a little bit
weird for us because it's usually the opposite of what's
happening here. But it was still a nice, big supermoon,
and it was a really bright moon to watch last night.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
And how often will we see it, like it's a
couple of days.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah, so you know the peak, the peak happened about
yesterday afternoon, but it will still be nearly one hundred
percent fool tonight. So if you're out and about this evening,
it will still look nice and big and bright. So
you know, it's not like it happens for one single second,
even though we say it's one hundred percent at one

(01:32):
single second, it still looks nice and big and nice
and bright. And it's still on that closer point to Earth.
So these supermoons in their orbit around the Earth sometimes
they're a bit closer to Earth and so they're a
bit bigger and a bit brighter in our sky. You know.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
I know I sound naive for saying this, but it's
a nice reminder that we all share the same moon.
The world is so to visive at the moment that
we're all seeing this at the same time.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Well very much, we really, I think don't appreciate the moon.
I mean, if you're on Mercury or Venus, you got nothing.
Mars's two moons are tiny little rocks that are disappointing.
And you know here everywhere across the world, you get
to see this celestial object that humans have gone to
that actually is connected to the Earth. Part of it

(02:15):
formed from the Earth four billion years ago, and it
lights up for skies and affects lots of life actually
on Earth. So it really is almost a magical thing
that we sometimes do take for granted.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Is it true that people are different in a full moon?
Emergency rooms have more people in there, that we have
more water in our blood, that kind of thing is
all that true?

Speaker 1 (02:41):
No, but there have been some notes of various activities,
and some of it is has to do with the
observational effect. You notice the full moon because it's big
and bright in your field of view, so when the
moon is half or a quarter you don't really notice
a change because you're not looking for a change. Now,

(03:01):
one of the things you also get is the full
moon always rises at sunset, So in order for the
moon to be full, the sun has to be on
the opposite side of the Earth to the moon, so
that means the sun sets in the west, the moon
rises in the east, so it rises at a convenient time,
so people are still sometimes even you know, in the winter,
driving home or or walking their dog or those sorts
of things, so you tend to make that notice as well.

(03:25):
But you know there is notes of you know, say,
you know, the classic dog sparking at night and that
sort of thing. The moon makes the full moon makes
the sky brighter, so you actually can see more outside,
so you tend to be a little bit more active
or a little bit more aware of your surroundings, and
so dogs see more in those sorts of things. So
you do get some effects because you notice it, but

(03:46):
in terms of the direct effect on our body, there
really isn't that much. Well how does that explain a man? Then?

Speaker 2 (03:51):
And I've got hair on the back of my hands.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Well that sometimes things make you stare up in that
sort of thing. So it's look, the moon is really great.
It's a really it was a really great moon. And
then we get next month we get another super moon.
So we kind of fall into this period of the
moon becomes in sync in its rotation around the Earth,
and so for the next couple of full moons it's

(04:16):
going to be this super moon of being a bit
closer and a bit brighter. So the full moon on
the fifth of November and then the fourth of December,
those will all be those bigger, slightly bigger, slightly brighter
full moons in the evening.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Give it up for the moon, and I say it
has no atmosphere, but come on, come on, come on.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
Oh that's right. I mean it's it's better than some
of other places. You don't want to be uranus and
be the butt of all joke.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
Amanda loves God to you, right.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
USA, Brad our astrophysicist.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
You are our only astrophysicist and you will always be
brad Taker.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
Thank you for joining us.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Thanks guys, Thanks Brad.