Wednesday night will see the rise of a rare full moon — the “Blue Supermoon,” which takes place at one of the moon’s closest points to Earth for the second time this month.
You may have heard of blue moons, of the “once in a blue moon” fame. That’s when two full moons fall in the same calendar month. Despite the colloquialism referring to uncommon events, blue moons are relatively frequent, occurring once every two or three years.
You may have also heard of supermoons, which occur when a full moon takes place during the moon orbit’s perigee, or its closest point to Earth. The moon is about 14% closer to the planet than at its apogee, or furthest point from Earth. Supermoons happen three or four times per year and always appear consecutively.
The coincidence of the blue moon and the supermoon is somewhat rare.
According to NASA, there could be anywhere from two months to twenty years between blue supermoon events. The next one won’t be until January 2037, followed by another in March 2037.
The name “blue moon” doesn’t have anything to do with the color, but the moon will appear larger and brighter than normal due to its supermoon status and relatively closer position to Earth.
The Back Bay Amateur Astronomers hosted an observation event Tuesday night on the Virginia Beach Boardwalk near the 24th Street Stage to look at the moon and other objects in the night sky.
“It’s going to be a waxing gibbous, it’s going to be one day shy of a full moon,” Jeff Goldstein, vice president of the club, said Tuesday. “And it’s just as terrible today as it will be tomorrow.”
According to Goldstein, full moons don’t make for great astronomical viewing. Their brightness blots out the stars, and without the moon’s shadow, it’s difficult to make out features on the surface of the moon through a telescope. That’s one of the reasons the club is hosting the event on Tuesday instead of Wednesday.
“We think, ‘Oh my gosh, the full moon,’ and then you blind yourself with the telescope,” he said. “It doesn’t hurt your eyes, it just makes you see spots after you stop looking at it, because it’s so bright. It’s really bright.”
Goldstein also hoped to see Saturn and Albireo, a gold and blue double star in the constellation Cygnus, on Tuesday night.
The group was out despite cloudy conditions, hoping to catch glimpses of the night sky through breaks in cloud cover.
On Wednesday in Hampton Roads, the moon will rise about 7:47 p.m. in the east to southeast direction. It will set in the west-southwest at 7:01 a.m. Thursday. The moon will be full at 9:36 p.m., according to NASA.
Seeing the moon Wednesday night could prove difficult because of the weather.
The National Weather Service in Wakefield is forecasting cloudy skies, with about 75% to 90% cloud cover after sunset. Hampton Roads is also at the edge of heavier rainfall taking place to the south due to Hurricane Idalia, according to Ryan Rogers, a meteorologist at the weather service. Rain could start Wednesday afternoon and continue through Thursday morning.
It’s possible the supermoon will make flooding from Hurricane Idalia worse as its intensified gravitational pull raises tides the same day the storm is expected to make landfall in Florida.
Cianna Morales, 757-957-1304, [email protected]
