What time does the full moon culminate?

Answer 1

Technically, in order to answer your question with precision and accuracy, it would be necessary to know both your exact location, and the month of the specific full moon that concerns you. But here is a general, 'quick and dirty' answer that might be good enough to suit your requirement: We know that the full moon occurs when we are able to see the entire lighted half of the moon, and that happens when the moon is directly opposite the sun ... in 'back' of the earth. Another way to visualize it is: Starting from the sun, the moon is 'halfway around' the sky. Well, we know that wherever the sun is, that's solar "noon" directly under it. And half-way around the sky, where the moon is, it's solar "midnight". Now, since I don't know where you live, I can't give you the correction for your position within your time-zone; so we'll just have to go with 12:00 Noon by the clock. If you know which night the full moon occurs, you can estimate the culmination as being near 12:00 midnight that night (standard time, not daylight time). If you want to be a bit more accurate about it: On the day before the full moon, stab a stick vertically into the ground, and watch to see what time in the middle of the day the shadow of the stick is shortest. The full moon will culminate roughly 12hours 25minutes after that time.