In the sky of the Arab world this evening, Friday, January 6, the full moon will be observed for the month of Jumada al-Akhira, which is the first full moon in the winter season and the first in the new year 2023.
According to the Astronomical Society in Jeddah, the moon will appear above the north-northeast horizon with sunset, and it will be noticed during its sunrise that its size is large, and this is just an optical illusion that occurs in the middle of each lunar month and has nothing to do with whether the moon is near or far from the Earth in its elliptical orbit, after its rise and distance On the horizon it will appear in its usual size.
In addition, it can be red or orange in color, due to dust, smoke, and pollutants in the Earth’s atmosphere that scatter the white light reflected from the moon, so that the blue spectrum colors of short wavelength are dispersed, and the colors of the red spectrum remain of long wavelength, which reach our eyes and we see them. The same reason we see the setting sun in a reddish colour.
This moon will be full, coinciding with its arrival at the apogee (the farthest point in its orbit from Earth) at a distance of 406,458 km. Therefore, the apparent size of this full moon will be smaller than the average in the sky by up to 14% compared to the giant moon – and therefore less bright than the giant moon. Even so, the full moon tonight will still be shining.
In addition, the full moon will be visible next to the stars Castor and Pollux, the brightest twin stars. However, the bright moonlight may make these two stars dim or even invisible.
The path of the full moon tonight across the sky will almost simulate the apparent daytime path of the sun six months from now, as it will take the high path and play the role of the midnight sun in the Arctic Circle, while the opposite occurs in the southern latitudes of the globe, where the moon will remain below the horizon like the sun Right in June.
The moon will reach the highest point in the dome of the sky at midnight directly above the head of the observer, and this will be followed by its arrival at the moment of completion at 02:07 after midnight Mecca time (11:07 pm GMT). Earth this month. It will set with sunrise on Saturday morning.
This time of the month is ideal for seeing radioactive craters on the surface of the moon through binoculars or a small telescope, unlike the rest of the terrain that appears flat due to the presence of the entire moon in the sunlight. These radioactive craters are deposits of bright reflective material that extends from the center of the craters outwards for hundreds of kilometers. These craters are newly formed, and Tycho is the most radiant crater.
During the coming nights, the moon will rise late by about an hour every day, and after a few days it will be seen only in the sky of dawn and early morning, and at that time it will reach the stage of the last square, a week after its full full moon.
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Source: “Al-Balad News”