Technologies

How to See the Full Harvest Supermoon Rise Tonight

The last supermoon of 2023 officially arrives Thursday and Friday. This one will help anyone in the Northern Hemisphere say goodbye to summer.

If you’re in Europe, the Americas or Africa, make a plan to get outside around sunset on Thursday. The rest of the world should plan to do the same Friday to catch the rise of a notable full moon.

Traditionally, the full moon that takes place nearest to the northern autumn equinox has been known as the harvest moon in Europe and North America. For centuries, the bright moon’s light was welcomed as it helped farmers continue to harvest their bounty beyond sunset.

In 2023, the harvest moon may be up to 30% brighter because this particular full moon is also a supermoon, or as astronomers put it more scientifically (and arguably more poetically), at perigee syzygy. No matter what you call it, this is when the moon is full and also at its closest point to Earth in its oval-shaped orbit.

The result is a full moon that can appear as much as 15% larger in the sky than a typical full moon, reflecting around an additional third more light from the sun into the night sky.

This year we get four supermoons in succession in only three months, starting with one in early July, followed by two in August and ending with this supermoon late tonight into tomorrow. It’s actually not that unusual for supermoons to come all in a row like this. It will happen again next year with four supermoons between August and November.

Supermoon shots from across the globe (pictures)

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How to see it

A moon at perigee syzygy is one of the easiest and most convenient celestial events to experience first hand. In most cases, it will be as simple as venturing outside around sunset and turning your back to the setting sun. The full moon will be rising to the east, 180 degrees in the opposite direction, although the exact moment depends on your location and the local topography.

Not only does this twilight moment typically fall at a part of the day that’s a little less hectic and more comfortable, temperature-wise, it’s also the best time to see a supermoon in the night sky. This is due to something called the «moon illusion,» which causes the full moon to appear larger when it is closer to the horizon.

So combine the effect of the moon illusion with the size boost of perigee syzygy, and the super harvest moon this week is set to be pretty spectacular as it rises shortly after sunset.

A supermoon behind the San Francisco skyline

Plus, depending on what’s happening in the atmosphere near you, moonrise is the time when the full moon is most likely to be colorful. Particulates in the air can make the moon appear more red or orange, and those are likely to linger lower in the atmosphere, meaning the moon is more colorful closer to the horizon. Unfortunately, a colorful moon can also mean that there’s more smog, smoke, dust or other unpleasant things in the air.

More expert skywatchers can also try to spot three planets in the sky with the moon Thursday night into Friday morning — Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury. The bright supermoon will make them a bit harder to find, but apps like Stellarium paired with binoculars or a telescope can help.

So book some time as the sun gets low in the sky Thursday or Friday around dinner time. Head outside and watch it set in the west and then flip around to watch the biggest moon anyone on Earth will see until next August.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, Dec. 24

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 24.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? I’m Irish-American, but yet 6-Down, which involves Ireland, stumped me at first. Read on for all the answers.. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Wordle or Boggle
Answer: GAME

5A clue: Big Newton
Answer: ISAAC

7A clue: Specialized vocabulary
Answer: LINGO

8A clue: «See you in a bit!»
Answer: LATER

9A clue: Tone of many internet comments
Answer: SNARK

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Sharks use them to breathe
Answer: GILLS

2D clue: From Singapore or South Korea, say
Answer: ASIAN

3D clue: Large ocean ray
Answer: MANTA

4D clue: ___ beaver
Answer: EAGER

6D clue: Second-largest city in the Republic of Ireland, after Dublin
Answer: CORK

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Technologies

Quadrantids Is a Short but Sweet Meteor Shower Just After New Year’s. How to See It

This meteor shower has one of the most active peaks, but it doesn’t last for very long.

The Quadrantids has the potential to be one of the most active meteor showers of the year, and skygazers won’t have long to wait to see it. The annual shower is predicted to reach maximum intensity on Jan. 3. And with a display that can rival Perseids, Quadrantids could be worth braving the cold to see it.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

The show officially begins on Dec. 28 and lasts until Jan. 12, according to the American Meteor Society. Quadrantids is scheduled to peak on Jan. 2-3, when it may produce upwards of 125 meteors per hour. This matches Perseids and other larger meteor showers on a per-hour rate, but Quadrantids also has one of the shortest peaks at just 6 hours, so it rarely produces as many meteors overall as the other big ones.

The meteor shower comes to Earth courtesy of the 2003 EH1 asteroid, which is notable because most meteor showers are fed from comets, not asteroids. Per NASA, 2003 EH1 is a near-Earth asteroid that orbits the sun once every five and a half years. Science posits that 2003 EH1 was a comet in a past life, but too many trips around the sun stripped it of its ice, leaving only its rocky core. The Earth runs through EH1’s orbital debris every January, which results in the Quadrantids meteor shower.

How and where to see Quadrantids

Quadrantids is named for the constellation where its meteors appear to originate, a point known as the radiant. This presents another oddity, as the shower originates from the constellation Quadrans Muralis. This constellation ceased to be recognized as an official constellation in the 1920s and isn’t available on most publicly accessible sky maps.

For the modern skygazer, you’ll instead need to find the Bootes and Draco constellations, both of which contain stars that were once a part of the Quadrans Muralis. Draco will be easier to find after sunset on the evening of Jan. 2, and will be just above the horizon in the northern sky. Bootes orbits around Draco, but will remain under the horizon until just after 1 a.m. local time in the northeastern sky. From that point forward, both will sit in the northeastern part of the sky until sunrise. You’ll want to point your chair in that direction and stay there to see meteors.

As the American Meteor Society notes, Quadrantids has a short but active peak, lasting around 6 hours. The peak is expected to start around 4 p.m. ET and last well into the evening. NASA predicts the meteor shower to start one day later on Jan. 3-4, so if you don’t see any on the evening of Jan. 2, try again on Jan. 3.

To get the best results, the standard space viewing tips apply. You’ll want to get as far away from the city and suburbs as possible to reduce light pollution. Since it’ll be so cold outside, dress warmly and abstain from alcoholic beverages, as they can affect your body temperature. You won’t need any binoculars or telescopes, and the reduced field of view may actually impact your ability to see meteors.

The bad news is that either way, the Quadrantids meteor shower coincides almost perfectly with January’s Wolf Moon, which also happens to be a supermoon. This will introduce quite a lot of light pollution, which will likely drown out all but the brightest meteors. So, while it may have a peak of over 100 meteors per hour, both NASA and the AMS agree that the more realistic expectation is 10 or so bright meteors per hour.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Dec. 24, #1649

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Dec. 24, No. 1,649.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle is a little tricky, with a double letter that could confuse players. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.