by Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on exciting discoveries, scientific advances and more.
August continues to be an exciting month for sky enthusiasts. Closely following the peak of the Perseid meteor shower last week, the first of four consecutive meteor showers is set to rise on August 19. The rare cosmic combination of a supermoon and a blue moon peaks at 2:26 pm ET on Monday.
The last time this lunar event occurred was August 2023, and the next super blue moons are predicted for January and March 2037. Supermoons make up about a quarter of all moons, and only 3% of full moons in their blue moons.
So-called supermoons appear to be the biggest and brightest lunar events of the year. The moon’s orbit around the Earth is not a perfect circle but an elliptical path. Scientists refer to the moon’s closest point to Earth — an average distance of about 226,000 miles (363,300 kilometers) — along its 27-day journey as the satellite’s perigee, according to NASA.
There are many different definitions of peat, said Noah Petro, laboratory chief of NASA’s Planetary Geology, Geophysics and Geochemistry laboratory. However, a full moon within 90% of perigee is often described as a supermoon, he said.
When the moon is closest to Earth in its orbit, it can appear up to 14% larger and 30% brighter than when it is at its farthest point from the planet, known as apogee, at around 251,000 miles (405,500 kilometers) from Earth.
Although this increase in perceived size may be subtle, NASA describes a supermoon as being much brighter than other full moons throughout the year. It can be challenging to see the difference, but a supermoon has a significant impact on Earth, causing higher than normal tides due to its proximity.
Supermoon Visibility
Grasshoppers are visible to the naked eye and do not require a specific location to view them. Throughout the night, the moon will rise higher until just before sunrise.
Shannon Schmoll, director of the Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University, said if the sky is clear of clouds and you have a clear view, you will be able to see the moon.
“It’s bright enough that you don’t have to go anywhere special,” and can be seen just after sunset, she said.
Petro said the joy of these full moons is that if cloud cover allows visibility, you can observe any night before or after the peak of the full moon.
“So there are actually three days when the moon will be full and beautiful,” he said.
“The thing about these amazing moons is that they’re much closer, they’re also brighter.” He noted that if it’s a clear night, you might notice the change in brightness outside. “You will have this beautiful sight in the sky, our moon floating off in the distance.”
Because giant turf is 30% brighter than the average full turf, they are easier to detect.
“It’s going to be a little brighter, and it’s always a good excuse to go outside and appreciate the universe, and our place in it, and what we see from Earth,” Schmoll said.
What are blue moons and sturgeon moons?
Despite the name from 1528, the moon will not appear blue in color, wrote NASA’s Gordon Johnston.
“The color of the moon seems to change until there is a lunar eclipse,” Petro said.
As in the case of a big moon, there are different definitions for blue moons – monthly and seasonal.
Schmoll explained that “on average, we have one full moon, per month, but because most of our months are slightly longer than a lunar cycle, that means if we end up with a full moon right at the beginning of the month, for we might have to. another full moon again at the end of the month. So sometimes that’s called a blue moon.”
A seasonal blue moon is often defined as the third full moon of an astronomical season with four full moons.
“If you take a season, a season is about three months long. So during that time, you would usually have three full moons in one season, and if you end up with four in a season, the blue moon would be the third of the four, and that is this blue moon,” Schmoll. said.
In the 1930s, the Maine Farmer’s Almanac began applying names corresponding to natural events to full moons, Petro said. These names have been widely used and recognized ever since. “The Sturgeon moon originates from indigenous observations within the environment,” he said.
The Maine Farmer’s Almanac states that the Algonquin tribes, who once lived in what is now the northeastern region of the United States, referred to the full moon in August as the Sturgeon moon, named after the large fish that were more easily caught during the this season.
Heavenly events to come
Keep an eye out for Jupiter and Mars as they aspect the moon, Schmoll said.
Last week, the two planets aligned in conjunction, reaching their closest conjunction from Earth’s point of view since 2018. Jupiter and Mars are likely to remain relatively close together in the sky during the peak of the supermoon. , Schmoll said.
And in the next month or so, expect a brightening event, called a Nova, to occur in the Milky Way’s Corona Borealis, or the Northern Crown constellation. Astronomers expect T Coronae Borealis, known as the Blaze Star, to explode explosively as a binary system of a dead white dwarf star and an aging red giant star collapsing violently.
“A new star will appear in the constellation for a few days to a week before disappearing. And this is something that happens every 80 years or so,” Schmoll said. “That’s something we don’t know exactly when it’s going to happen, but we’re hoping it will happen.” Schmoll said.
Supermoons of the remaining year
The remaining supermoons of 2024 will occur on September 18, October 17 and November 15.
September’s supermoon will also be a partial lunar eclipse, which means that the Earth will cast its shadow over part of the moon, Petro said. “It’s a partial one, so it won’t be as clear to the audience,” he said.
The fullest, biggest moon of the year will rise in October. “The moon will be about 100 kilometers (62 miles) closer to Earth on October 17,” Petro said.
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
