Equinox to be marked by full moon

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 22 (UPI) -- The Northern Hemisphere's autumnal equinox -- the beginning of fall -- will be marked by a full moon for the first time since 1991, astronomers say.

The equinox, beginning at 11:13 p.m. EDT Wednesday, will see a traditional harvest moon, defined as the full moon closest to the September equinox, National Geographic News reported.

"And you can't get any closer to the September equinox than this," Alan MacRobert, an amateur astronomer and senior editor at Sky & Telescope magazine in Cambridge, Mass., said.

The full moon falling on the autumnal equinox is simply one of many astronomical coincidences occurring this month.

On Monday, the planet Jupiter got the closest it's been to Earth since 1963, and Uranus passed right behind Jupiter on Sept. 17, MacRobert said.

"If you are into conspiracy theories, you may think, oh my gosh, the heavens are conspiring -- something big is going to happen," he said.