Today is Friday the 13th and there's a full moon in the sky. I'm not supersticious or anything, but it just seems like a lot for one day, right? I can tell you right now that my grandmother—who thinks her house is haunted (the ghosts are friendly, thank goodness) and believes wholeheartedly that witches exist among us—is staying inside tonight.
While this full-moon-on-Friday-the-13th occurance may seem ominous to some, it's pretty big time stuff in the astronomy world. It only occurs when three variables (the moon phase, the weekday, and the day of the month) coincide. In fact, we won't see another Friday the 13th overlap with a full moon until August 2049. That said, tonight's the perfect night to go stargazing as the view will be brilliant. (I'd just recommend going inside should you see a black cat in the vicinity.)
Ove here at Scholastic we're thrilled about the full moon becasue it fits so perfectly with our Reading Under the Stars theme of the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge. And we've got a ton of resources you can use to take advantage of this astrolonomical rarity. See below, and enjoy!
- Download our handy Star Guide: Learn about the 12 major constellations and how to spot them in the night sky.
- Watch Leland Melvin, a NASA astronaut and reading enthusiast, share fun facts about constellations. (Just click on a constellation and a video will appear!)
- Throw a Reading Under the Stars party with your family and neighbors!
- Hit the library for a selection of Reading Under the Stars books—we've got books about space exploration, aliens, planets, and stars, camping, the great outdoors, as well as spooky summertime reads.
image via Nick K.
