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The moon orbiting our planet is what makes Earth a livable planet with a fairly stable climate. Earth’s only permanent natural satellite helps to regulate Earth’s wobbling axis and through the synchronization of gravitational pulls has created a tidal rhythm that we humans have been using as guidance for thousands of years. It is believed that the moon was most likely formed by a collision between the planet and a Mars-sized asteroid.
The moon (or Luna) is the fifth largest moon in our solar system. It is the only place outside of Earth that man has thus far set foot. The Soviet Lunar Program accomplished the feat of reaching the moon with the first unmanned spacecraft (Luna 1) in 1959. Ten years later, on July 20, 1969, the world watched a live television feed from the Lunar Module as United States of America Apollo 11 mission Commander Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon.
Do you know what these four terms: Anomalistic, Nodical, Sidereal and Synodical are? They are the four different kinds of lunar months that actually occur.
For more fun and interesting facts about our moon please consider
visiting these reference websites:
NASA Planetary Science Division by the solar system communications team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory website | California Institute of Technology,
Space Facts,
Space.com,
Wikipedia
In years past, the month of February saw the heaviest snow falls; thus, the native tribes of the north and east most often referred to the full moon in February as the Full Snow Moon. The harsh weather conditions made hunting difficult so some tribes referred to it as the Full Hunger Moon.
The last full moon of winter sees rising temperatures, the warming of the ground and the earthworm casts appear. Thus, the March moon is most often referred to as the Full Worm Moon. However, the March moon has a few other names: Full Crow Moon, Full Crust Moon, Full Sap Moon and the settlers referred to it as the Lenten Moon.
Full moon names and informational facts cited from the Farmers Almanac