爱思英语编者按：2012年中秋节是满月吗？据了解，2012年中秋节满月时间出现在中秋节当天即9月30日上午11点。今年“十五的月亮十五圆”。2010年的中秋月是近18年来最小的，而从2011年起，每年中秋月的目视直径都会一年比一年大。今年的中秋圆月是中等大小。而下次最大中秋月要到2015年才会出现。

The Full Harvest Moon Is Coming

Turn your attention toward the night sky Saturday night because there's going to be a very special full moon with a special name. It's called the Harvest Moon.  

The Harvest Moon is the name for the full moon that is closest to the autumnal equinox, which came on Sept. 22 this year.  

Here's what that means for straight-up skygazers.  

"On average, the moon rises about 50 minutes later each day," writes EarthSky. But when the full moon occurs near the fall equinox, the gaps between moonrises are shorter. For those in the Northern Hemisphere, the moon rises about 30 minutes later each night. This happens before and after the full moon, resulting in three consecutive days of the moon appearing at nearly the same time.

The early evening moonrises "means the Moon shines brightly during early evening for several extra days running — traditionally providing welcome light just when busy farmers needed the extra work hours to get in their crops," says Alan MacRobert of Sky&Telescope.

The Harvest Moon "may look bigger and seem closer, but it's not," David DeVorkin, a senior curator at the Air and Space Museum, tells USA Today. 

You can watch the event unfold online from the Slooh Space Camera.