August’s full moon is called the “sturgeon moon,” because the giant sturgeon of the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain were most readily caught during that part of summer.
It reached peak illumination at 9:36 last night. The day before, Jonathan Prager took this gorgeous photo.
(Photo/Jonathan Prager)
Last night, Westporters were out in droves to document the moon. Ted Horowitz shot this with his iPhone:
(Photo/Copyright Ted Horowitz)
Taking another view, Patrick Kennedy describes this shot as “the full moon, guarded by our Minute Man”:
(Photo/Patrick Kennedy)
So beautiful…love these pictures.
Sturgeon were surely a good source of protein for Native Americans all over North America. They are “anadromous”, like salmon, spawning and developing in fresh water before moving out into the oceans. When the Hudson River got clean enough again, the fish returned to spawn. They have been listed as endangered because of overfishing and polluted habitat so their return to the Hudson is a very good thing. I wonder if they ever lived in rivers in New England, especially Connecticut. “Compo” comes from “Compaug”, meaning “Bears’ Fishing Grounds”, fishing for sturgeon,maybe?