Once In A Blue Supermoon

The end of August will bring a blue supermoon to our skies, meaning it is the second super full moon to appear in a single calendar month.

The supermoon, which will appear in our skies this Thursday (31 August), will also be the biggest and brightest of any in 2023.

While a blue moon occurs once every two to three years, one that coincides with a supermoon is a rarer phenomena. The last blue supermoon occured in 2009, and the next won’t be until 2032.

A supermoon itself is when a full moon occurs very near the moon's closest point to Earth in its orbit, making the moon appear brighter and larger than average.

“Supermoons look about 8% bigger and about 16% brighter than an average full moon,” says Stardome astronomer Rob Davison.

“A blue supermoon is a lovely quirk of our calendar which means we’re seeing two of these bigger and brighter moons in the same month.”

The moon’s orbit is slightly elongated, meaning the distance from the moon to earth ranges between about 364,000 and 404,000 kilometres during each orbit, although variances can bring it a little closer or farther away. Typically, there will only be two to three full moons that qualify as a supermoon each year. The first supermoon of August was overnight on Tuesday 1 August.

The end-of-August supermoon will be the biggest and brightest in 2023 because the moon will be over 27,000 kilometres closer to earth than its average distance of 384,000 kilometres.

“The super blue moon will rise towards the east as the sun sets towards the west, and will be visible in the sky for the whole night. If it’s a clear night, people will be able to see it from all over the country,” says Rob.

What’s on at Stardome?
Takurua/Winter astronomy shows are now playing. These seasonal Māori astronomy shows run every Tuesday night and give insight into the skies above Aotearoa New Zealand as we move through our seasons.

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