How many full moons are there in a year?

Full moons in the year

• In order to know how many full moons there are in a year, it is helpful to visualize how a full moon comes about. A full moon can always be seen when the sun and moon are facing each other and the earth is in between. If the moon is exactly in orbit, there is a special full moon to be observed - the lunar eclipse.

• Much more often, however, the moon is not exactly in the earth's orbit. Then the sun can completely illuminate the moon and no shadow cast by the earth interrupts this illumination. On earth this is seen as a full moon.

• Since the planets move on their orbits and / or around themselves, there is only such a full moon a brief matter and only occurs again when the above-described constellation occurs again occurs. From a certain point on earth, 29 days, 12 hours and 44 minutes must pass before exactly the same constellation applies again and a full moon occurs.

There are many years with 13 full moons

• The distance between two full moons is slightly shorter than an average calendar month. So if there is a full moon in most months, then there are a total of 12 full moons per year. And that works out quite well in most years.

• However, there can also be months with two full moons - if on 1. or 2. For example, January is a full moon, then the second full moon is on January 30th. or 31. January. Then in the following February (if it is not a leap year) there is the constellation that there is no full moon because the next lunar cycle does not end until the beginning of March.


"How long does the earth take around the sun?" - Interesting facts about the orbit of the earth

The planets of the solar system all move around the sun for different lengths of time. …

• In this case, a year can also have 13 full moons. This always occurs when the first full moon of the year appears at the beginning of January, between January 1st. and 11. January.

Regardless of whether a calendar year has 12 or 13 full moons, they are always beautiful and, for many people, a special event. Because the nights of the full moon are assumed to have innumerable properties. However, negative and positive properties are balanced - this part of the full moon is perhaps more just a question of faith.