Images of the Super Harvest Moon and Lunar Eclipse, September 2024

Photographers around the world have captured this week’s Harvest Super Moon and Partial Lunar Eclipse, eager to capture the beauty of the bright full moon in the evening sky.

The Full Moon of 17/18 September 2024 is a Super Moon, Harvest Moon and Partial Lunar Eclipse, making it a sight to behold for those with clear skies to step outside and see it.

Super Harvest Moon over Ashton Memorial, Lancaster, Lancashire, UK. Captured by Lee Mansfield with a 600mm lens from the bridge about 1 mile away. Click to expand.

The ‘harvest moon’ is an informal nickname for the full moon closest to the September equinox, and was historically so named because of its proximity to harvest time.

A ‘supermoon’ is, astronomically speaking, an informal term for a ‘perigee syzygy moon’, meaning the Moon is closest to Earth in its orbit (perigee) and is one of three celestial bodies in alignment (syzygy), in this case the Sun, Earth and Moon.

Super Harvest Moon over Midtown Manhattan and the Empire State Building in New York City, USA. The foreground shows traffic on the 14th Street Viaduct on September 17, 2024. Photo by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images
Super Harvest Moon over Midtown Manhattan and the Empire State Building in New York City, USA. Front showing traffic on the 14th Street Viaduct, 17 September 2024. Click to expand. Photo by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images

Supermoons may technically be larger than a ‘regular’ full moon, but the apparent size difference is small enough to be essentially invisible to the human eye.

Nevertheless, supermoons are popular events around the world because the sight of a big, bright full moon in the sky is always mesmerizing, whether the moon is at perigee or not.

But above this week’s superharvest moon, the full moon underwent a partial lunar eclipse in the early morning hours of September 18, whereby Earth’s shadow fell on a small portion of the moon’s surface, creating a subtle darkening effect.

Super Harvest Moon partial lunar eclipse above Anitkabir in Ankara, Turkey on 18 September 2024. Photo by Mehmet Futsi/Anatolu via Getty Images
Super Harvest Moon partial lunar eclipse above Anitkabir in Ankara, Turkey on 18 September 2024. Click to expand. Photo by Mehmet Futsi/Anatolu via Getty Images

Unsurprisingly, astrophotographers and moongazers have been out in force this week, aiming to photograph and observe the lunar spectacle.

Here are some of the best pictures we’ve seen so far.

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Did you take pictures of the 17/18 September Super Harvest Moon or Partial Lunar Eclipse? Send us your pictures via [email protected]

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