Full Sturgeon Moon

Supposedly, full-moon names date back to when Native Americans lived in what is now the northern and eastern United States. Those tribes of a few hundred years ago kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full moon. Those names were applied to the entire month in which moon each occurred. To be sure, there were some variations in the moon names, but in general, the same ones were current throughout the Algonquin tribes, from New England on west to Lake Superior. European settlers followed their own customs and created some of their own names.

 August's Full Sturgeon Moon occurred at 5:26 a.m. EDT (0926 GMT) today, but to the casual observer, the moon will appear full the day before (tonight) and after the lunar event. It is called the Full Sturgeon Moon, when that large fish of the Great Lakes and other major bodies of water like Lake Champlain is most readily caught. A few tribes knew it as the Full Red Moon because the moon rises looking reddish through sultry haze, or as the Green Corn Moon, Grain Moon or the Blueberry Moon.

Look for the so-called Super moons in October, November and December of 2016, a rare triple occurrence.