Full Sturgeon Moon Tonight

 The Full Sturgeon Moon will rise tonight at 8:27 pm (EDT).

I expect that because of the extremely hot weather occurring in certain

areas of the United States this week, the full moon, where visible, 

will appear deeply orange in color due to the heat.

Full Sturgeon Moon 

(2019)

The Old Farmer's Almanac website reports that the changing seasons were 

 often tracked by the lunar month, not the solar month.  Native Americans

often named the months after "start of the season" cues. These

names could differ by tribes depending on where the people lived.

My ancestors, the Cherokee, called this month's full moon,

 "Galoni" which means, "Fruit Moon".

 At this time of the year, the fruit grown on trees and bushes was gathered, 

 along with wild herbs and medicines collected by various "Paint Clans" while 

 those of the "Wild Potato" Clans harvested the edible plants 

 found growing along rivers and streams and lakes.

Green Corn festivals, a long tradition of the Cherokee people

at this time of the year, are still celebrated today.

"Mother's Little Helper"

Virgil C. Stephens

American artist

August's full moon is called the Sturgeon Moon because

many American Indian tribes living in northeastern America knew 

that this time of the year was great for catching the giant sturgeon

 fish found swimming in places like Lake Champlain, which stretches

 across upstate New York and Vermont and into Canada, 

as well as in the Great Lakes which border the region.

Atlantic Sturgeon

US Fish and Wildlife Service

(1970's)

The Sturgeon is a long-lived, late maturing fish reported to

have a lifespan of 50 to 60 years.  It's existence on earth dates

back to the Triassic Period, some 245 to 208 million years ago.