The UK will be treated to a rare blue supermoon on Monday night.
So if you gaze up at the sky and notice the moon looks particularly special, your eyes are not deceiving you.
Supermoons normally happen around three to four times a year and is the phenomenon which occurs when a full moon is at its closest point in orbit to Earth, therefore appearing even bigger in size.
But this specific type of supermoon is actually even more unique due to how it also coincides with being a blue moon.
If you’re wondering what’s happening and when you can see the blue supermoon, we’ve got you covered.
Here’s everything you need to know.
The supermoon is blessing our skies on Monday, August 19 and will be visible across the UK from any time after around 8pm when the sun sets and things turn darker.
You might also see reference to the sturgeon moon. This is what the August full moon is named.
Its label originated from Native American tribes that often caught the huge sturgeon fish in the Great Lakes around the country at that time of year.
It might sound obvious, but the weather could of course be the biggest stumbling block in terms of seeing the blue supermoon.
If you get lucky and there isn’t too much cloud cover, it’s best to get away from city and town centres to areas with less light pollution to get the best views of the moon.
You don’t need to do much other than look up and enjoy the scenery. But if you do own a telescope, or even a pair of binoculars, you’re likely to see even more detail on the lunar surface than usual.
We’ve all heard the phrase ‘once in a blue moon’ before. Sadly it’s not actually to do with the colour, but rather the timing.
Just to make matters slightly more complex, there are two different types of blue moon.
Due to the way the lunar cycle lines up with the calendar, approximately every other year there are 13 full moons, as opposed to 12. The extra full moon that occurs is what is known as a blue moon – but isn’t what’s happening this time.
The second type of blue moon is the name given to the fourth full moon in a single season, which is what is happening this summer and is what will be seen on Monday night.
You’re probably wondering what is so special about the August 19 super blue moon. Well it’s exactly that combination of being a full moon, a supermoon and a blue moon at the same time.
According to NASA, tonight’s combination is quite ‘irregular’ and only occurs once every 10 years on average. It can even be as long as 20 years between super blue moons.
Despite the last one being in August 2023, NASA is predicting we won’t see it again until January and March 2037, which is another reason why you won’t want to miss it.
As we said, if you don’t catch it, you may have missed quite a special supermoon, given how it coincided with the blue moon and happens so rarely.
But fear not, another typical supermoon is at least on the horizon next month on Wednesday, September 18.
There will also be one on October 18 and then November 15.
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