SpaceWatchtower: St. Valentine's Day Full Moon

By Glenn A. Walsh
Reporting for SpaceWatchtower

There is much in literature regarding romance and the Moon. This year they come together with the Full Moon occurring on Saint Valentine's Day. In fact, for the eastern half of North America, the Full Moon occurs during the dinner-hour, just in time for a romantic evening meal.

February's Full Moon occurs on St. Valentine's Day, Friday Evening, 2014 February 14, at 6:53 p.m. EST (23:53 Coordinated Universal Time).

In Korea, this day is known as Jeongwol Daeboreum, the first Full Moon Day of the Asian Lunar Calendar. It is also the first time in 19 years that Jeongwol Daeboreum coincides with St. Valentine's Day. In China, the New Year of the Lunar Calendar began on January 30 (actually January 31 in Asia), The Year of the Horse.

Most Native Americans in the Northern Hemisphere referred to the February Full Moon as the Snow Moon for obvious reasons--particularly obvious during this cold and snowy 2013 - 2014 Winter in the eastern half of North America. Other Native Americans tribes have called the February Full Moon the Hunger Moon, due to the difficult hunting conditions during the harsh weather of the month.

While the January Full Moon (and for some tribes the December Full Moon) has been known by some tribes as the Wolf Moon, other tribes referred to the February Full Moon as the Wolf Moon. The Full Moon of February has also been known as the Racoon Moon and the Bare-Spots-on-the-Ground Moon.

In the Southern Hemisphere, the February / Mid-Summer Full Moon has been known as the Grain Moon, Sturgeon Moon, Red Moon, Wyrt Moon, Corn Moon, Dog Moon, and Barley Moon.

Once every 19 years, February has no Full Moon. This is due to the fact that February has only 28 days (29 days once every four years during the Leap Year) while the time duration of the Moon's orbit around the Earth is even shorter: 27.322 days.

For Birders, February 14 is also a special day. As the beginning of the four-day Presidents' Day Weekend, Friday also kicks-off the annual Great Backyard Bird Count. This is one of the major weekends of the year when bird enthusiasts simply tally the number and kinds of birds in their backyard, or some other specific location, for a 15-minute time period during one or more of the days of the weekend.

Launched by Cornell University's Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society in 1998, it was the first on-line Citizen Science project to collect data on wild birds and display the results in near real-time. The results help scientists learn more about the complex distribution and movements of bird populations.

More on the Full Moon: Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_moon

More on Full Moon names ---
Link 1 >>> http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/full-moon-names
Link 2 >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_moon#Harvest_and_Hunter.27s_moons
Link 3 >>> http://www.farmersalmanac.com/full-moon-names/

More on St. Valentine's Day:
Link 1 >>> http://www.almanac.com/content/when-valentines-day
Link 2 >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Valentine%27s_Day

More on the Korean Jeongwol Daeboreum:
Link >>> http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/culture/2014/02/386_151464.html

More on the Great Backyard Bird Count: Link >>> http://gbbc.birdcount.org/

More on Citizen Science Projects:
Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.com/FAQ/citizenscience.html

Source: Glenn A. Walsh Reporting for SpaceWatchtower, a project of Friends of the Zeiss.

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