Tide half a day) varies in a two-week cycle. Approximately twice a month, around new moon and full moon when the Sun, Moon, and Earth form a line (a configuration known as a syzygy), the tidal force due to the Sun reinforces that due to the Moon. The tide's range is then at its maximum; this is called the spring tide. It is not named after the season, but, like that word, derives from the meaning "jump, burst forth, rise", as in a natural spring. When the Moon is at first quarter or third quarter, the Sun and Moon are separated
Full moon and the names "harvest moon" and "hunter's moon" for the full moons of autumn. The "harvest moon" and "hunter's moon" are traditional terms for the full moons occurring during late summer and in the autumn, in the northern hemisphere usually in September and October respectively. The "harvest moon" is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox (22 or 23 September), coming anywhere from two weeks before to two weeks after that date. The "hunter's moon" is the full moon following it. The names are recorded from the early 18th century. The "Oxford English Dictionary" entry for "harvest moon" cites