As Earth’s only natural satellite, the moon has long had considerable impact on mankind. Its gravitational pull creates ocean tides and affects our planet’s motions. The moon and its regular lunar phases have also served as important social, spiritual and mythological influences on various peoples throughout history.

Full moons provide fascination for many cultures and are the subject of a variety of folktales. Due to the regularity of full moons, which occur approximately every 29.5 days, several of them even have names and cultural characteristics associated with them. A full moon occurs when the moon is opposite the sun, with Earth between the two. From our planet, the visible surface of the moon appears fully illuminated and larger than anything else in the night sky. Since the rotation and orbit periods of the moon are the same, the same part of the moon is always seen from Earth.