Regular readers of this blog might recall that I listed the names and timings of the full Moons for this year in my post for December 2023 and that September’s full Moon will be the Harvest Moon because it is the closest one to the autumnal equinox. 
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All full moons rise around sunset and generally speaking, they rise about 50 minutes later each day. However, when the Moon rises close to the equinox, this reduces to about 20-25 minutes on the days before and after it is full. The resulting combination of twilight and moonlight means that there is more time when it is light enough to allow farmers to harvest their crops. Hence it being named the Harvest Moon.
 
In addition, September’s full Moon is the second of 2024’s four Supermoons with the others being the aforementioned Sturgeon Supermoon in August, then the Hunter’s Supermoon in October and finally November’s Beaver Supermoon.
 
For those who have an interest in the sea and tides, Supermoons are notable because they bring especially high spring tides that some people call king tides.
 
So, what is a supermoon and why does it create an extra-large spring tide, or king tide?
 
Well, the Moon doesn’t orbit around the Earth in a perfect circle. Instead, it has an elliptical orbit, where its distance from the Earth varies throughout the month, with the closest distance on this ellipse in any given month being called the perigee. When any full Moon comes within 90% of the perigee, or within 224,791 miles (or less) of our planet, it is called a supermoon. On these occasions it will look bigger and brighter than normal and will also exert a greater gravitational pull on the Earth than normal. This greater gravitational pull means that, just as a full moon gives us spring tides, a supermoon will give us extra-high spring tides, or king tides.
 
Given that September’s full Moon will pass by Earth at a distance of 222,131 miles, making it the second closest of the four supermoon’s, we can certainly expect these extra-high king tides. However, another thing to consider is that the full Moon is on 18 September, which is just four days before the Autumnal Equinox, so the tides will be higher than normal.
 
This is because the Sun is directly above the equator at the equinox, meaning that the Earth’s axis of rotation is not tilted towards or away from it and that it’s gravitational pull is evenly distributed across the planet. This enhances the Sun’s gravitational effect on Earth’s tides causing it to pull more directly on the Earth's equatorial regions, where the water bulges out more significantly and this gives us "equinoctial spring tides", where the tidal range—the difference between high and low tide—is at its greatest. For this reason, some people refer to these equinoctial spring tides as “great tides”.

​In Loch Sunart, the tidal range is typically just over 4 metres at most, but in September, the combination of a Supermoon and an equinox will result in a maximum tidal range of 5.3 metres. As this “Great King Tide” will give us 0.0-0.2 metres at low tide, I’m looking forward to exploring some stretches of the shoreline with the camera that are not usually accessible. Also, a high tide of 5.1-5.3 metres will occur around sunset, hopefully giving me some good opportunities to capture some colourful reflections in the submerged salt marshes that are likely to be found in certain places.
 
So, although August’s Moon photography plan didn’t work out, fingers crossed September’s will.

​Buck Moon: 21 July at 11:17 am
July is the month when the new antlers of buck deer grow larger. This full Moon was named in recognition of this phase of antler growth, indicating the maturity and strength of the bucks.
 
Super Sturgeon Moon: 19 August at 7:25 pm
August was associated with the abundance of sturgeon fish in lakes and rivers of North America and the Sturgeon Moon acknowledges the significance of this large fish in the ecosystems during this time.
 
Super Harvest Moon:  18 September at 3:34 am
This is the full Moon closest to the autumnal equinox. Its name comes from the extra light it provides during the evenings, allowing farmers more time to harvest their crops as the days shorten.

​Super Hunter’s Moon: 17 October at 12:26 pm
Following the Harvest Moon, the Hunter's Moon was associated with the time to hunt and prepare for winter. It provides additional light for hunters pursuing game in the waning light of autumn.
 
Super Beaver Moon: 15 November at 9:28 pm
November is when beavers actively build their winter dams in preparation for the colder months and the Beaver Moon recognises this industrious activity.
 
Cold Moon: 15 December at 9:01 am
As December brings the coldest temperatures of the year in many places, the Cold Moon emphasises the chill in the air and the onset of winter's full force.
 
You’ll also see that four of the full moons will be supermoons. It’s when the Moon is at its closest to us in its elliptical orbit and will appear bigger and brighter than normal, so do look out for them then.

​The beauty of a crescent moon is very subjective and is very much down to personal preference, but I do find it particularly captivating when the Moon is visible at sunset or sunrise. This timing allows a crescent moon to appear against the backdrop of the colourful twilight sky and create a striking visual contrast just like it did on the evening when I took this month’s photograph. I was absolutely captivated by the sight of it hanging in the sky just above the hills of Morvern and the orange glow from a setting Sun.

​This captivating and beautiful celestial sight has been historically associated with various myths and cultural beliefs and predominant themes seem to be ones of renewal and transformation. In various religious contexts, a crescent moon holds specific meanings. In some pagan and Wiccan traditions, the crescent moon is considered a symbol of the feminine divine, representing cycles, intuition, and the ever-changing nature of life, while in Hinduism, it is associated with various deities, including Shiva and Parvati and the waxing and waning of the Moon is said to represent the cycle of life, death, and rebirth.
 
However, it is in Islam where the crescent moon perhaps features most prominently and is seen on top of minarets and mosques, and on the flags of many Muslim countries. Representing the beginning of the lunar month, it is used to determine the timing of important Islamic events and holidays, such as Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar.  This month is a time of fasting, prayer, reflection, and community for Muslims worldwide and the crescent moon plays a crucial role at its beginning and end. The sighting of the new crescent moon marks the end of the month of Sha'ban and the beginning of Ramadan, while the sighting of the crescent moon at the end of Ramadan signifies the end of the fasting period and the celebration of Eid al-Fitr, a festival that marks the end of Ramadan.

​Given how captivating the sight of a crescent moon can be, it is perhaps little wonder that it plays a role in several of the World’s cultures and religions, but whatever your beliefs are, it is certainly a sight worth seeing. So, if you are an early riser, look out for it in the east at sunrise on the mornings just before a new moon and if you are a night owl, look for it in the west at sunset a few days later. You won’t be disappointed.

​Most people will have watched a white coloured moon traversing the night sky and some people may have even seen a yellow or red moon at moonrise or moonset. On the other hand, very few people will have seen a blue coloured moon because it is a very rare occurrence indeed.
 
This rare event, when the Moon can naturally appear blue, is caused by the presence of dust particles in the atmosphere which, if they are the right size, can scatter the red part of the light spectrum and leave the rest untouched to cause the moon to take on a blue tint.
 
Some of the events that have led to this include the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 and the eruptions of Mount St. Helens in 1980 and the El Chichón volcano in Mexico in 1983. In fact, the eruption of Krakatoa reportedly caused blue moons for nearly 2 years.
 
However, the bluish tint caused by these rare events doesn’t have anything to do with the phrase “once in a blue moon”. Instead, the words ‘blue moon’ are used to describe the second full moon in a calendar month. It is an event that is not that rare because there are 29.5 days between full moons, meaning that each year will have roughly 12.3 full moons. This gives us a 13th full moon once every 2.7 years, along with a month within which a second full moon, or blue moon occurs.
 
In fact, the last blue moon to occur was the one that is shown in the image above, which I photographed in October 2020. The next one is in August 2023 and the one after that will be in May 2026.
 
Considerably rarer than blue moons are double blue moons. This is when there are two blue moons in the same calendar year, and it is something that occurs about 3-5 times every hundred years of so. The last one was in 2018, the next is expected in 2037 and the one after that in 2067.
 
Rarer still is what is termed a super blood blue moon. This is when a blue moon occurs when the Moon comes within 90% of its closest distance to Earth to make it a supermoon, while at the same time fully slipping into the Earth’s shadow to create a total lunar eclipse. This last happened in January 2018, just over 150 years since all three phenomena last lined up in March 1866.
 
If you look at the frequency at which these three phenomena are expected to occur;
 

• blue moons make up about 3% of all full moons;
• supermoons are approximately 25% of all full moons; and
• total lunar eclipses occur during 5.6% of full moons;

 
meaning that a super blood blue moon will occur 0.042% of the time, or once every 2,381 full moons. On average, that corresponds to once every 194 years!
 
So, the next time you think about using the phrase “once in a blue moon” for something that almost never happens, you might want to consider using “once in a super blood blue moon” as an alternative!!

​This image above was taken a couple of days after the full moon of January 2018 and shows Eilean Tioram still cut off from the mainland despite the time being a few hours since the last high tide. In fact, the high tide on that day, at over 5 metres high, was good quarter of a metre higher than what is typical for a spring tide on Loch Moidart and because this extra-high tide was only a few days after a supermoon, it was what some people call a king tide.
 
So, what is a supermoon and why does it create an extra-large spring tide, or king tide?
 
Well, the Moon doesn’t orbit around the Earth in a perfect circle. Instead, it has an elliptical orbit, where its centre-to-centre distance from the Earth varies throughout the month, with its closest point to Earth on this ellipse in any given month being called the perigee. When any full Moon or new Moon comes within 90% of the perigee, or within 224,791 miles (or less) of our planet, it is called a supermoon. On these occasions a full Moon will look bigger and brighter than normal and both a full and new Moon will exert a greater gravitational pull on the Earth than normal. This greater gravitational pull means that, just as a full moon gives us spring tides, a supermoon will give us extra-high spring tides, or king tides.
 
Most of the time these king tides don’t cause too much of a problem, but shortly before this photo was taken in 2018, the supermoon of January 1-2 was closely aligned with the perigee and created especially high king tides. On the day after, Storm Eleanor hit the UK with winds of up to 100 mph (160 km/h). These high winds, combined with the extra-high tides, caused coastal flooding, hampered travel, led to loss of life and injury and left tens of thousands of homes across the UK without power.
 
Should we expect this to happen again? Well perhaps not for the remainder of this year and the whole of next year because the predicted heights of the king tides during the UK’s storm season months (typically October to February) is lower than that of January 2018. However, in 2023 and 2024, the predicted height of the king tides are at or above those of January 2018 which, if combined with the high winds of a named storm, could lead to coastal flooding of the same level as that experienced during Storm Eleanor.