The Moon is full tonight, and it’s especially bright as well. And to top things off, it’s the most famous full Moon of them all – the Harvest Moon.

Harvest Moon is the full Moon closest to the fall equinox, so most years it falls in September. But once every five years or so it skips into October. This year, September’s full Moon came 15 days and 10 minutes before the equinox, which took place on the 22nd. This month’s full Moon comes 14 days, 9 hours, 29 minutes after the equinox, so it barely takes Harvest Moon honors.

The Harvest Moon was important in earlier times because it shined over the fields when crops were ready to be brought in. Its light allowed farmers to work into the night. And because of the angle of the Moon’s path at this time of year, the full Moon rises only a few minutes later each night as seen from more northerly latitudes. So it’s almost like having a full Moon for several nights in a row.

People often think that the Harvest Moon must be especially bright, but that isn’t usually the case. This year, however, it is. That’s because it comes less than a day and a half before the Moon is closest to Earth for its current orbit – roughly 15,000 miles closer than average. That provides some especially bright nights for farmers – and the rest of us, too.

Tomorrow: the bull charges into the evening sky.

Script by Damond Benningfield