The sky will light up tonight (Wednesday to Thursday) with yet another supermoon. This is the second supermoon of the month of August, also known as a “blue moon”. This rare phenomenon will be visible all over the world and Portugal is no exception.
“The Moon passes through its closest point to Earth (perigee) and its furthest point from Earth (apogee) each month. When the Moon is closest to or near Earth at the same time that it’s full, “It’s called a supermoon. During the phenomenon, because the full moon is slightly closer to Earth than normal, it appears larger and brighter in the sky.”
Supermoons appear, according to the US space agency, “approximately 14% larger than when they are furthest from Earth.” “Since the Moon will be close to us in its orbit, it will appear a bit brighter than normal,” says NASA. This time, the natural satellite will be 357,344 kilometers from Earth, about 50,000 kilometers closer than usual.
The second supermoon this August is also known as a “blue moon,” but that designation has nothing to do with its color. According to the US space agency, the term is used when there are “two full moons in a single month.” However, not all blue moons are supermoons.
“The moon’s cycle is 29.5 days, slightly shorter than the average length of a month. Over time, this gap results in a full moon occurring at the beginning of a month, with enough days remaining to another full cycle, or that is, a second full moon in the same month. In other words, a full moon that occurs on the first or second day of a month is likely to be followed by a second full moon on the 30th or 31st.”
The first full moon of August occurred at the beginning of the month, on the 1st, which also coincided with a supermoon, in a phenomenon that is repeated tonight, from August 30 to 31, which makes it a blue supermoon.
Two supermoons in the same month are considered a rare event. So much so that the next super blue moon will not appear again until 2037.
The next supermoon is scheduled for September, the night of the 28th to the 29th, at a time when the Moon will be at a distance of 361,552 kilometers from Earth.
Source: TSF
