Missouri – This year has brought about a lineup of unusual or rare celestial shows for humans to enjoy while looking toward the night sky. From a total solar eclipse to a meteor shower, and multiple nights of the dancing northern lights. Now they are giving us a super rare blue supermoon to see rise on Monday.
According to NASA, the moon can be considered a supermoon when it is in its full or new moon phase and is within 90% of its closest approach to Earth on its rotation. This means Monday’s moon will be one of the fullest and brightest moon of the entire year. It will be closest to the Earth with an average distance of 226,000 miles. Normally the moon settles in an orbit at around 250,000 miles from Earth.
But unlike blue moon anything, this blue moon will not actually be blue.
When it comes to the moon, “blue” refers to it being the third full moon in a season of four full moons. It can also be describing a moon that is the second full moon in the same month, but not in this case since this will be August’s only full moon this year. NASA explained that they don’t know the exact reason behind the name but suspect that it could be because the moon “betrayed” those trying to set the dates for Lent and Easter. These holidays are affected by the moon’s schedule. It could also be connected to a time when the atmosphere dust would give the moon a blue color.
So if you want to see a one-of-a-kind supermoon, walk outside to see the biggest and brightest moon of the year.
