Clear Skies Expected For Friday's 'Harvest Moon' Over Pennsylvania

Don't forget to look at the moon Friday. It's the September Harvest Moon, and skies should be clear to get a full view.

The Harvest Moon will make an appearance at 7:05 p.m. Eastern Time. The moon will reach the crest of its full phase at 3:05 p.m. ET on Friday in North America. Perigee comes around 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Sept. 18.

The Harvest Moon is expected to be big, bright and orange.

“The orange color of a moon near the horizon is a true physical effect,” according to Earthsky.org. “It stems from the fact that — when you look toward the horizon — you are looking through a greater thickness of Earth’s atmosphere than when you gaze up and overhead. The atmosphere scatters blue light – that’s why the sky looks blue. The greater thickness of atmosphere in the direction of a horizon scatters blue light most effectively, but it lets red light pass through to your eyes. So a moon near the horizon takes on a yellow or orange or reddish hue."

It looks like Mother Nature will cooperate in giving us a good view of the Harvest Moon. The National Weather Service is predicting partly cloudy to mostly clear skies overnight Friday into Saturday in the Philadelphia region.

»Photo of a harvest supermoon courtesy of NASA.