Rare blue supermoon to be seen by Earth's inhabitants: when and where to watch
On 30 August, the world's inhabitants will be able to observe a rare phenomenon in the sky - a blue supermoon will rise. It is called a "blue supermoon" because it is the second full moon to rise in August. In fact, it will be orange.
The full moon rises every 29.5 days, but in August it will rise for the second time - the first full moon occurred on 1 August and was called the "sturgeon".
A supermoon occurs when the full moon approaches the closest point in its orbit to the Earth. The moon's orbit around the Earth is elliptical, so every month it reaches its closest point (perigee) and its farthest point (apogee). According to Fred Espenak, an astronomer and former NASA eclipse calculator, satellites that are within 90% of perigee in a given month are considered supermoons.
The second August full moon is the third and closest of four supermoons in 2023. At a distance of 357,344 kilometres from Earth, it will be the largest and brightest supermoon of 2023, although it will be only 33 kilometres closer than the Sturgeon was (357,311 km).
The last supermoon of this year is expected on 29 September.
You can watch the Moon online on the Spacegid website (the image from the telescope is updated every 30 seconds).
You can also watch the Moon online on the THEREALPAX YouTube channel
What is happening on the lunar surface can be seen live on the WorldCam YouTube channel.
These figures are comparable to a distance of about 405,696 km when the Moon is at its farthest point from Earth.
As a reminder, scientists have discovered dust clouds around a young star for the first time.
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