August Has 2 Supermoons, One A Blue Moon: When To Look Up In RI

RHODE ISLAND — This is the summer of supermoons — that is, full moons that appear to be bigger and brighter as they buzz Earth in their elliptical orbit — and we’ll see two supermoons in August, depending on weather conditions in Rhode Island.

The first is the full sturgeon moon on Tuesday, Aug. 1. Right now, National Weather Service meteorologists are predicting partly cloudy skies for Tuesday night.

The month’s second full moon on Aug. 30 also qualifies as a supermoon. Called a blue moon, at 222,043 miles from Earth, it will be the closest, biggest and brightest full moon of 2023, and the second of four consecutive supermoons.

Tuesday’s supermoon may make the Delta Aquariid meteor shower peak a bust, though it doesn’t have a well-defined peak and rambles along through most of August. But conditions look good for the Perseid meteor shower, which NASA calls “the best meteor shower of the year.” The moon will be only a sliver during the Aug. 11-13 peak.

• Related: Delta Aquariid, Perseid Meteor Showers Ramp Up: When To Look Up In RI

Here are five things to know:

What Are Supermoons?

“Supermoon” is a catchy way to refer to what astronomers call perigean full moons.

They occur when the moon’s orbit is closest to Earth, called perigee, at the same time the moon is full, according to NASA. On average, supermoons look up to 8 percent bigger and about 16 percent brighter.

At perigee, the moon is about 226,000 miles from Earth on average. But on Aug. 30, our natural satellite will come within 222,043 miles of Earth. The moon will make an even closer brush with Earth on Nov. 5, 2025, when it will be 221,817 miles from Earth.

What’s The Opposite Of A Supermoon?

A moon at perigee looks up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than a “micromoon” — that is, a moon at apogee, or its farthest distance from the Earth in its elliptical orbit. At apogee, the moon travels about 253,000 miles from Earth in its elliptical orbit.

Are Consecutive Supermoons Rare?

A person might think a string of supermoons is rare, according to NASA, but they’d be wrong, Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory said of the three consecutive supermoons in 2013.

“Generally speaking, full moons occur near perigee every 13 months and 18 days, so it’s not all that unusual,” he said.

The 2023 string of four supermoons began with the full buck moon in July, and there will be another one on Sept. 29, the last of the year, with the full harvest moon supermoon.

There will be four consecutive supermoons in 2024 as well, on Aug. 19, Sept. 18, Oct. 17 and Nov. 15.

What Is A Blue Moon?

There are two kinds of blue moons — monthly and seasonal. The Aug. 30 full moon is the former.

In astronomy, a season refers to the time between a solstice and equinox. Spring, summer, fall and winter all are three months long, and usually have only three full moons, occurring 30 days apart. A seasonal blue moon is the third full moon of an astronomical season that has four blue moons, according to NASA.

Does The Moon Ever Look Blue?

It happens, according to NASA, but very rarely.

“When a blue-colored moon happens, the blue color is the result of water droplets in the air, certain types of clouds, or particles thrown into the atmosphere by natural catastrophes, such as volcanic ash and smoke,” NASA said.