Science of the Sturgeon Full Moon: Once in a Blue Moon?

Full Sturgeon Moon. Image: Old Farmer’s Almanac, Colleen Quinell

Science of the Sturgeon Full Moon

You may have noticed we’re presently experiencing a full moon. But it is not your typical, ordinary, usual full moon.

It’s a Sturgeon Full Moon.

How does a Sturgeon Full Moon differ from other Full Moons?

In North America, the August full moon is traditionally known as the Sturgeon Full Moon because this is the time of year when the continent’s largest freshwater fish, the Sturgeon, begin their spawning season.

Sturgeon

Sturgeon means “the stirrer,” which is what this giant fish does when it is looking for food; it stirs up the mud and silt with its pointed snout on river and lake bottoms.

This lunar event is also known by other names, historically by Native American tribes, who would name their months after the moon. Most notable are Harvest Moon (Dakota tribe), Corn Moon (Algonquin and Ojibwe tribes), Red Moon, Ricing Moon (Anishinaabe tribe), Grain Moon, Black Cherries Moon (Assiniboine tribe), Flying Up Moon, and Mountain Shadow Moon (Tlingit tribe).

Where is it best viewed?

If you’re on Earth, it’s visible everywhere. It is in the southeastern sky, just after sunset.

This year, the full moon will crest at 3:37 am (EDT) on Saturday, August 9.

How common are supermoons?

Sometimes the Sturgeon Full Moon is a supermoon. Supermoons are bigger and brighter than your typical run-of-the-mill full moon. It’s that proximity to the Earth that makes such a full moon a supermoon.

It’s possible to have 12 to 13 full or new moons annually, with three or four of them being classified as supermoons based on the proximity of the Moon to the Earth. Supermoons typically appear up to 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than the smallest-seeming full moon.

Supermoon (left) compared to micromoon (right)

When is the next supermoon?

Although this year’s Sturgeon Full Moon is not a supermoon – but it was in 2023 and 2024 – it may appear bigger due to the moon illusion, which occurs when observing the Moon near the horizon. The next November 5th Full Moon will be the biggest supermoon of 2025.

But not until May 31, 2026, will we see the next super blue moon, which only happens once-in-a-blue-moon, meaning if there are two full moons in a single month, as I have written about in my article on Blue Moons.

Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
billpetro.com