How many supermoons will be visible in 2023? August to feature a pair of supermoons and end with a rare blue moon sighting
Keep an eye out for a rare moon's treat! This August, The cosmos will provide astronomy enthusiasts with a visual surprise -- when you look up, you will not only see the moon, but a supermoon! The moon travels in an orbit that is just a little bit elliptical, which causes it to occasionally be slightly closer to and occasionally somewhat farther from Earth. As per NASA, a "supermoon occurs when the Moon’s orbit is closest (perigee) to Earth at the same time the Moon is full."
The moon will be 222,158 miles (357,530 km) from Earth on August 1, 2023. It is the first supermoon of August and the second of four supermoons that will appear back to back this year. "Warm summer nights are the ideal time to watch the full moon rise in the eastern sky within minutes of sunset. And it happens twice in August," said retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak, who is also known as Mr Eclipse for his eclipse-chasing expertise, reports ABC News.
How many supermoons are there in 2023?
Two of the four supermoon events in 2023 will occur in August, the first on Tuesday, August 1. A blue supermoon will occur on August 30, which will not occur again until 2032, as per NPR. 2018 marked the most recent occasion when there were two full supermoons in the same month. Gianluca Masi, an Italian astronomer and the creator of the Virtual Telescope Project, predicts that it won't happen again until 2037, as per ABC News.
The first supermoon of 2023 occurred in July. The fourth and final one will take place in September. The two in August will be closer than either of those. The first occurred between July 2 and 3, when the full moon was located 224,895 miles (361,934 kilometers) distant. The third and closest full moon will occur on August 30 at a distance of 222,043 miles (357,344km). The second full moon of the month is also referred to as a "blue moon," however, there is considerable disagreement among astronomers as to what exactly qualifies as a blue moon, as reported by Guardian. The 224,658-mile (361,552-kilometer) full moon on September 28–29 will mark the end of the race.
'A great opportunity to look up and discover the sky'
Masi will broadcast a live webcast of the supermoon when it rises over the Coliseum in Rome on Tuesday evening. "My plans are to capture the beauty of this... hopefully bringing the show's emotion to our viewers," Masi wrote in an email. "The supermoon offers us a great opportunity to look up and discover the sky," he added.
Supermoons usually look 14% larger than regular full moons and can be up to 30% brighter. The majority of people, though, will likely struggle to actually detect a difference. According to Espenak, if the sky is clear, binoculars or backyard telescopes can improve the experience by displaying details like lunar maria, which are the shadowy plains created by past volcanic lava flows, and the rays coming from lunar craters. As per ABC News, the Old Farmer's Almanac states that the full moon in August is customarily referred to as the "sturgeon moon." That's because, hundreds of years ago, there were plenty of those fish in the Great Lakes in August.