Look up to the sky – there will be a ‘blue’ supermoon on Monday night

Why is it blue? Why is it a supermoon? I once wrote “Campus” Explainedthe moon’s orbit around the Earth is not a perfect circle. It’s elliptical, so sometimes the moon is farther from Earth and sometimes it’s closer. The average distance from our satellite to Earth is 384,400 kilometers. When it’s at apogee, or the point in its orbit that’s farthest from Earth, we can be up to 406,000 kilometers from the moon. When it’s at perigee, or closest to Earth, the distance is significantly shorter, sometimes as much as 356,500 kilometers. On the night of August 19, the moon will be 361,969 kilometers from us. A supermoon is when the moon is simultaneously at the point in its orbit that is closest to Earth, and is Full Moon stage.

To avoid misunderstandings, it is also necessary to add that when we talk about the companion of the Earth as an astronomical object, we capitalize the Moon, while linguists recommend lowering its first letter when referring to phenomena we see in the sky – full Moon, waning Moon, new Moon, etc. Therefore, in this article you will find two options – the Moon, the satellite of the Earth, and the full Moon.

In addition to the August supermoon, four more supermoons are expected this year, on September 18, October 17, and November 15. When the moon is at perigee and full phase, it appears to an observer about 7% larger than normal and 15% brighter than average, but up to 14% larger than the moon itself (called a minimoon or micromoon). However, if you want to see a truly spectacular full moon, there is another tip to consider. More on that later. If you are not interested in the origin of the name, but want to know why the moon appears so large and often orange above the horizon, skip the section below and go to the end of the article!