The space agency says the average time between Super Blue Moons is 10 years. While a super blue moon could happen twice within the same month, they can also be separated by periods as long as 20 years, according to NASA. When is the next Super Blue Moon?īlue moon/supermoon coincidences are a lot rarer than either individual supermoons or Blue Moons. The moon may appear slightly larger and brighter during a supermoon, but this will be imperceptible to anyone except those skywatchers who have significant experience observing the moon. The distance between Earth and the moon during perigee and apogee ranges from around 220,000 miles (350,000 kilometers) to 253,000 miles (408,000 km), a difference of around 14%.ĭespite this disparity in Earth-moon distance, there isn't a huge difference in how the moon actually looks in the sky during a standard full moon and during a supermoon. That means there are times in the moon's orbit when it is farther away - at apogee - and times when it is closer - at perigee. This happens because the moon's orbit around our planet isn't circular, but rather elliptical like a flattened circle or an oval. 30, however.Ī supermoon occurs when a full moon falls during a period when the moon is closer to Earth. Not all Blue Moons are supermoons like the full moon of Aug. Thus, one of those months will have to accommodate two full moons and, thus, has a Blue Moon.īecause the moon's cycle takes 29.5 days to go from one full moon to the next, that means this month saw the Full Sturgeon Moon at the start of the month and a second, the Blue Moon, at the end of the month. Full moons occur around 12.4 times a year, and that means that every 2.8 years, a 12-month period has 13 full moons. As explained above, a Blue Moon is commonly classified as the second full moon of a single calendar month (although it technically refers to the third full moon in a season that has four full moons).
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