August 30, 2023 – Super Blue Moon

If you look up in the sky tonight, you’ll see something amazing – a super blue moon! Not only is it a supermoon, meaning the moon is full during the closest point in its orbit around Earth. It’s also a blue moon, which means it’s the 2nd full moon this month!
Tonight, the moon will be the biggest and brightest of 2023. It’ll be around 17,000 miles closer to Earth than average. It’ll look 8% bigger and 15% brighter than a normal full moon. The closest full supermoon of the 21st century will be in December of 2052.
The term Blue Moon has nothing to do with the color of the moon. Blue moons happen about every 2 1/2 years. It’s either the 2nd of 2 full moons occurring in a month, or the 3rd full moon in a season that has 4. While it’s rare for the moon to appear to have a blue tinge, it has happened a few times in history. It’s caused by dust particles or smoke in the atmosphere, and was seen after massive forest fires in Canada and Sweden in 1950 and 1951. After the Krakatoa volcano erupted in Indonesia in 1883, the moon was blue for almost 2 years!
Our last blue supermoon was in December 2009. The next one won’t happen until January 2037! Learn more here and here.