In this week's Skywatch 16, we start off with something a little different.
It's not about something that you can see but rather something that is fleeting.
Our sunsets are going to start happening earlier than 8 o'clock.
Our last 8 o'clock sunset or later happened on Monday.
Our next sunset of 8 o'clock or later won't happen until May 1st of 2022.
Sorry to start off on a little bit of a depressing note. So let's cheer you right back up.
We'll talk about the Full Sturgeon Moon.
It's going to be full this Sunday, the 22nd, at 8:02 in the morning.
It gets its name because this is when sturgeon the fish is readily caught in the Great Lakes.
This is according to our Native American ancestors.
It's also known as the Corn Moon to the Algonquin Native Americans.
This full moon also happens to be a blue moon.
It's the third full moon of the season.
It's the third of four. So the third full moon of a four full moon season is dubbed a blue moon.
It's going to have some company in the evening sky a bit later this week.
Jupiter and Saturn will be visible right near that nearly full moon on Friday and Saturday.
It's officially full on Sunday.
This time of year is also great for spotting Jupiter's Galilean Moons.
There are four of those. Jupiter has as many as 79 moons, even though only 53 of them have an official name.