While you may be familiar with the Harvest Moon thanks to Neil Young, you’ve likely never heard of the Snow Moon, but that’s just what Monday’s full moon will be. Along with a beautiful full moon, though, there’s another treat in the night sky this week.
On Tuesday, Jupiter will be sitting fairly close the moon in what astronomers call a conjunction.
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Naming moons dates back to the aboriginal peoples of North America. The Snow Moon gets its name because the heaviest snow would fall during this month. According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, another name for this moon is the Hunger Moon since the snowfall made it difficult to hunt for food.
As for Jupiter’s conjunction with the Snow Moon, the pair will be just a bit more than one degree apart in the sky (the width of a pinky finger held at arm’s length is about one degree). They will start rising in the east shortly after 7 p.m.
And if you happen to still be up around 3 a.m., you can also see Mars and Saturn rising in the eastern sky. If not, don’t worry: in a few months’ time, they’ll be rising around 11 p.m.