TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan will see the biggest full moon of the Mid-Autumn Festival in nearly a decade on Friday (Sept. 29), and in response a meteorologist has created a moon-viewing index.
According to the Taipei Astronomical Museum, the full moon is on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunisolar calendar. However northeasterly winds will bring more clouds to many parts of Taiwan, hampering moon-viewing in some areas on Friday.
The museum said this year's Mid-Autumn Festival coincides with a real full moon, which only happens about one-third of the time. In the 21st century, it only occurs 37 times, with the next Mid-Autumn Festival seeing a full moon occurring in 2030.
However, even if a full moon coincides with a Mid-Autumn Festival, it might not have risen yet. Therefore, to see a "perfect" Mid-Autumn full moon like this year, one will need to wait until 2037.
Although this year's Mid-Autumn Festival full moon is not a supermoon, it is still the largest since 2015, even though it is 361,553 kilometers away.
The museum will open its exhibition hall area to the public for free starting at 6 p.m. on Friday. It will also hold its "Mid-Autumn Rabbit Fun" event from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. which will include moon-viewing and photography via telescope, musical performances, and prize giveaways.
Lin Te-en (林得恩), head of the research team at National Taiwan University's Center for Weather and Climate Disaster Research, on his Facebook page on Thursday morning (Sept. 28) posted a "Mid-Autumn Moon-watching Index" rating the moon-viewing opportunities across the country. Lin predicted the northeasterly winds on Friday will increase cloud cover in the north, northeast, and eastern half of the country.
Depending on the environmental wind conditions on that night, there may be intermittent cloud cover that could obscure the moon. In the western regions, from Taoyuan to Chiayi, Lin forecast there will be relatively fewer clouds, making it the most suitable for families to enjoy the moon.
South of Tainan, due to afternoon convective rainfall, the clouds may clear later. Overall, the later it gets, the clearer the sky becomes, and the moon shines brighter, predicted Lin.
From late Friday to early Saturday morning (Sept. 30), in western Taiwan, the skies should gradually clear with a brisk wind, and the moon will be high in the sky. In the eastern part of the country (except for the northeast), there will still be a chance to see the moon, but it may be more intermittent, said Lin.
In his "Mid-Autumn Moon-watching Index," which has a maximum moon-gazing score of five stars, Lin gave Taipei City three and a half stars, New Taipei City three stars, Taoyuan City to Chiayi County five stars, Tainan County to Pingtung County four stars, Keelung City to Yilan County two stars, and Hualien County to Taitung County three and a half stars.
The following is Lin's moon-watching index:
