The full Moon lights up the sky the next couple of nights. It’s full early tomorrow, when the Moon and Sun line up on opposite sides of Earth. And the Moon is especially close to us tonight – the second-closest passage of the year – so it’s especially bright.

Because this is the first full Moon after the Harvest Moon, which we saw in September, it’s known as the Hunter’s Moon.

The Hunter’s Moon follows the Harvest Moon because long ago, when the full Moons were named, the hunt always followed the harvest. After farmers reaped their crops in September or early October, the fields were bare and open. There was no place for game to hide, so hunters took advantage of the next full Moon – the Hunter’s Moon – to track their quarry.

There’s no practical reason to keep these names today. Still, the names of the full Moons add a bit of romance or mystery to what might otherwise sound mundane. “Hunter’s Moon” has a lot more appeal than simply “the full Moon of October.”

The full Moon always rises around sunset and sets at sunrise. It’s easy to forget that the Moon rises later every day, so sometimes it appears in daylight. But it’s so pale compared to the Sun that we seldom even notice it.

You won’t have any trouble noticing the Moon tonight, though. Look for it beginning around sundown, lighting the way for hunters – and the rest of us, too.

We’ll talk about some other nearby celestial neighbors tomorrow.

Script by Damond Benningfield