Attention stargazers: the next full moon arrives Monday Aug. 19, but this won’t be any ordinary full moon.
This celestial event will be the year’s first of four supermoons.
August’s supermoon kicks off a string of lunar spectacles. September’s supermoon will coincide with a partial lunar eclipse. October’s will be the year’s closest approach, and November’s will round out the year.
What makes a moon super, you ask?
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It’s when the moon is within 90% of it’s closest approach to Earth.
This is what makes supermoons the biggest and brightest full moons--30% brighter and 14% larger to be precise.
But wait, there's more.
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This full moon will also be known as a super blue moon, but interestingly, the moniker has nothing to do with color.
By definition, a seasonal blue moon is the third of four full moons in a season. A monthly blue moon is used to describe the second full moon in a month, according to NASA. These are more common, occurring every two-to-three years.
Here's when to look skyward.
Technically, the super blue moon will occur at 2:26 p.m. EDT Monday. This does us no good because it’s in the middle of the afternoon and not bright enough to be very exciting.
The best time to view the moon at it’s largest and brightest will be shortly after moonrise and just above the horizon.
Moonrise occurs at 8:49 p.m. EDT Monday and 8:48 p.m. EDT Tuesday. These will be your best bets.
Oh, and I’ll talk to my people about keeping the clouds away.
