Is It Full?
In response to a question I received earlier this evening. Even though the moon appeared to be full this evening it was still a Waxing Gibbous with only 95.4% of the moon’s disk illuminated. The full moon will occur Monday July 22nd at 11:15 am PDT. It will rise tomorrow as a “full moon” but ever so slightly past full as the sun is setting, as every true full moon does, in fact it will rise 8 minutes before the sun sets. On Tuesday July 23rd it will rise after sunset by more than 30 minutes at 99.9% illuminated as a Waning Gibbous.
For those concerned about starting Ramadan incorrectly because you started fasting on Wednesday rather than Tuesday based on the Full Moon, a mistake was not made. The month is started on the sighting of the new crescent and not retroactively after the full moon is observed. In fact on July 22nd, here on the west coast of North America and throughout North America, the moon cannot be seen when it is reaches full as it will be day time and the moon will not have risen yet. As of the close of July 21st, we have fasted 12 days. The traditional white nights of the Full moon occur on the 13, 14 and 15th days which will occur on July 22nd, 23rd and 24th, just as they should be.
For your viewing pleasure, here is the full moon as it appeared in the sky above my home near midnight on July 21st. A thin layer of clouds in the sky glowed as the bright moon light filtered through them.
Full Moon and Cloud Glow
Peace.
