2017 Full Moon Calendar

Full moons in 2017

Many cultures have given distinct names to each recurring full moon. The names were applied to the entire month in which each occurred. The Farmer's Almanac lists several names that are commonly used in the United States. The almanac explains that there were some variations in the moon names, but in general, the same ones were used among the Algonquin tribes from New England on west to Lake Superior. European settlers followed their own customs and created some of their own names.

This is when full moons will occur in 2017, according to NASA:

Date	Name	U.S. East	UTC
Jan. 12	Wolf Moon	6:34 a.m.	11:34
Feb. 10	Snow Moon	7:33 p.m.	00:33 (2/11)
Mar. 12	Worm Moon	10:54 a.m.	15:54
Apr. 11	Pink Moon	2:08 a.m.	07:08
May 10	Flower Moon	5:43 p.m.	22:43
June 9	Strawberry Moon	9:10 a.m.	14:10
July 9	Buck Moon	12:07 a.m.	05:07
Aug. 7	Sturgeon Moon	2:11 p.m.	19:11
Sept. 6	Harvest Moon	3:03 a.m.	08:03
Oct. 5	Hunter's Moon	2:40 p.m.	19:40
Nov. 4	Beaver Moon	12:23 a.m.	05:23
Dec. 3	Cold Moon	10:47 a.m.	15:47

Additional full moon names

Other Native American people had different names. In the book "This Day in North American Indian History" (Da Capo Press, 2002), author Phil Konstantin lists more than 50 native peoples and their names for full moons. He also lists them on his website, AmericanIndian.net.

Amateur astronomer Keith Cooley has a brief list of the moon names of other cultures, including Chinese and Celtic, on his website. For example:

Chinese moon names

Month	Name	Month	Name
January	Holiday Moon	July	Hungry Ghost Moon
February	Budding Moon	August	Harvest Moon
March	Sleepy Moon	September	Chrysanthemum Moon
April	Peony Moon	October	Kindly Moon
May	Dragon Moon	November	White Moon
June	Lotus Moon	December	Bitter Moon

Full moon names often correspond to seasonal markers, so a Harvest Moon occurs at the end of the growing season, in September, and the Cold Moon occurs in frosty December. At least, that's how it works in the Northern Hemisphere.

In the Southern Hemisphere, where the seasons are switched, the Harvest Moon occurs in March and the Cold Moon is in June. According to Earthsky.org, these are common names for full moons south of the equator.

January: Hay Moon, Buck Moon, Thunder Moon, Mead Moon

February (mid-summer): Grain Moon, Sturgeon Moon, Red Moon, Wyrt Moon, Corn Moon, Dog Moon, Barley Moon

March: Harvest Moon, Corn Moon

April: Harvest Moon, Hunter’s Moon, Blood Moon

May: Hunter’s Moon, Beaver Moon, Frost Moon

June: Oak Moon, Cold Moon, Long Night’s Moon

July: Wolf Moon, Old Moon, Ice Moon

August: Snow Moon, Storm Moon, Hunger Moon, Wolf Moon

September: Worm Moon, Lenten Moon, Crow Moon, Sugar Moon, Chaste Moon, Sap Moon

October: Egg Moon, Fish Moon, Seed Moon, Pink Moon, Waking Moon

November: Corn Moon, Milk Moon, Flower Moon, Hare Moon

December: Strawberry Moon, Honey Moon, Rose Moon

Just a phase

Here's how a full moon works:

The moon is a sphere that travels once around Earth every 27.3 days. It also takes about 27 days for the moon to rotate on its axis. So, the moon always shows us the same face; there is no single "dark side" of the moon. As the moon revolves around Earth, it is illuminated from varying angles by the sun — what we see when we look at the moon is reflected sunlight. On average, the moon rises about 50 minutes later each day, which means sometimes it rises during daylight and other times during nighttime hours.

Here’s how the moon's phases go:

At new moon, the moon is between Earth and the sun, so that the side of the moon facing toward us receives no direct sunlight, and is lit only by dim sunlight reflected from Earth.

A few days later, as the moon moves around Earth, the side we can see gradually becomes more illuminated by direct sunlight. This thin sliver is called the waxing crescent.

A week after new moon, the moon is 90 degrees away from the sun in the sky and is half-illuminated from our point of view, what we call first quarterbecause it is about a quarter of the way around Earth.

A few days later, the area of illumination continues to increase. More than half of the moon's face appears to be getting sunlight. This phase is called a waxing gibbous moon.

When the moon has moved 180 degrees from its new moon position, the sun, Earth and the moon form

From www.space.com

Cientistas procuram explicação para as misteriosas linhas escuras que aparecem em Marte nas estações quentes

Da BBC - Em setembro de 2015, a Nasa anunciou uma descoberta notável: Marte poderia ter correntes de água salgada que deslizavam pelas encostas do "Planeta Vermelho" durante o verão

Tão logo se cogitou que as linhas escuras registradas pelo rover Curiosity em Marte poderiam representar água em estado líquido surgiram especulações sobre a possibilidade de vida microbiana no planeta.

Agora, entretanto, especialistas afirmam que as misteriosas linhas negras podem ser, na verdade, avalanches de areia provocadas pelo efeito da luz solar na superfície marciana.De acordo com texto publicado esta semana pela revista New Scientist, cientistas afirmam que a atmosfera de Marte não é suficientemente úmida para considerar que a formação de linhas pudesse decorrer da condensação de água.

"Esses fenômenos acontecem nas horas mais quentes onde há temperatura mais elevada. Por isso, uma parte do cérebro diz que deveria ser gelo derretendo", disse Sylvain Piqueux, do laboratório da Nasa na Califórnia (EUA) em entrevista à New Scientist. Mas ele mesmo admite que trata-se de algo pouco provável em Marte. "O problema é que é muito difícil gelo derreter em Marte. É mais fácil que o gelo se transforme diretamente em vapor d'água", assinala Piqueux.

As linhas escuras foram observadas em vários lugares do Planeta Vermelho quando as temperaturas estavam no entorno de -23ºC.

Na ausência de uma explicação que envolva água, Frédéric Schmidt, da Universidade do Sul de Paris, na França, propôs, em parceria com outros pesquisadores, um modelo alternativo, segundo informou a New Scientist.

Direito de imagemNASA

Image captionTeoria das avalanches afasta esperança de se encontrar água ou mesmo vida microbiana no planeta vizinho, pelo menos por enquanto

Frédéric Schmidt defende que pode-se tratar de um processo ligado a variações climáticas sazonais.

Para Schmidt, as avalanches de areia poderiam ser causadas pelo Sol. Segundo esse modelo, quando os raios solares tocam a areia, o calor esquenta a superfície enquanto a parte inferior permanece fria. Essa diferença de temperatura provocaria mudança de pressão do gás em torno das partículas de areia. Esse gás subiria, fazendo com que haja deslocamento de areia e solo provocando, assim, deslizamento nas encostas marcianas.

Se essa teoria for comprovada, ou seja, se for rejeitada a hipótese de que as linhas escuras são "água líquida", desaparece a possibilidade de se encontrar organismos vivos em Marte.

Pelo menos, por agora.