Tianjin, February 25 (Xinhua) -- The moon is full in the sky, and the world is reunited. On February 24, the smallest full moon of this year appeared in the night sky as scheduled, sending warm Lantern Festival blessings to thousands of households.
A round of Lantern Festival moon photographed by Liu Chengshan, a starry sky photography enthusiast in Heilongjiang Province, in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, February 24, 2024. (Photo courtesy of me).
Astronomical science experts said that the Lantern Festival in the next year will still be "the fifteenth moon and fifteen rounds", but the minimum full moon "meets" the Lantern Festival, and the next time it will take 62 years.
Although this year's Lantern Festival moon is a bit "small", it does not affect people's mood in the slightest. In the evening of the same day, in Tianjin Jinwan Square, Qujiang Park, Ergong Park, Haihe Riverside, Drum Tower, Yangliuqing Ancient Town and other places, you can see the full moon, watching lanterns, guessing lantern riddles, watching performances and other people, and they are happy.
A round of Lantern Festival moon photographed by Yang Jing, a starry sky photography enthusiast in Tianjin, at Jizhaoqiao, Dongli District, Tianjin, on February 24, 2024. (Photo courtesy of me).
The Moon's orbit around the Earth is elliptical, and in the process of orbiting, it is far away from the Earth and sometimes close, with an average distance of about 3840,000 km, up to about 4060,000 km, about 3560,000 kilometers, the difference between the two is about 50,000 kilometers, so there is a "big moon" and a "small moon" when viewed from the earth.
Wang Junfeng, a starry sky photography enthusiast in Beijing, photographed a round of Lantern Festival Moon in Fengtai District, Beijing, February 24, 2024. (Photo courtesy of me).
In fact, from an astronomical point of view, it is more accurate to call it a full moon at apogee and a full moon at perigee. At 20:30 on February 24, the first full moon in the year of the dragon, Wang, is also the closest to apogee among all the full moon days of this year, so it is called the smallest full moon of the year. At 23 o'clock on February 25, the Moon orbited to an apogee, the farthest from the Earth. The biggest Full Moon of the year will be on October 17. Xiu Lipeng, a member of the Chinese Astronomical Society and an expert in astronomical science popularization, said.
Whether it is the smallest full moon or the largest full moon, it occurs once a year, so it is not uncommon, but the smallest full moon is relatively rare to meet the Lantern Festival.
A round of Lantern Festival moon photographed by Li Hua, a Xinjiang starry sky photography enthusiast, in Hami, Xinjiang, on February 24, 2024. (Photo courtesy of me).
Xiu Lipeng said that the lunar calendar is monthly.
Ten. Four, ten.
Five, sixteen and even seventeenth, there may be a full moon, among them, the lunar calendar.
Ten. The two days of May and 16 are the most, and the sixteenth day of the lunar calendar is the most. Since the Lantern Festival is fixed on the 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar, the probability of the minimum full moon appearing in the first month of the lunar calendar is very low, and these factors lead to the rare number of "encounters" with the Lantern Festival by the minimum full moon.
Chen Huibai, a starry sky photography enthusiast in Heilongjiang Province, photographed the Lantern Festival Moon in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province on February 24, 2024 (multiple photos superimposed). (Photo courtesy of me).
According to statistics, the last time there was a minimum full moon coincided with the Lantern Festival was on February 19, 1962, and the next time was on February 28, 2086.
*:Xinhua.