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August astronomy: Two supermoons in one month. How rare is that?

A supermoon will shine brightly in the beginning and end of August

Photo of the full moon - July 2023 - submitted by Josie Scottie through Pin It

ROANOKE, Va. – Sky-watchers will be seeing double in the month of August. Well...not really. You’ll see the same thing twice - a supermoon.

A supermoon is a full moon that is in its closest point to Earth in its orbit. Experts say that these full moons can appear slightly brighter and bigger than other full moons.

What is a supermoon?

The first one in the month of August comes right out of the gate on the 1st. The second one happens on August 30.

How rare is it to get two supermoons in one month?

Tony Rice, an Ambassador with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, sheds some light on this.

You not only have two full moons in a month, which is referred to as a ‘Blue Moon.’ This happens once every two-to-three years.

To have that and two supermoons in a month? That’s a little rarer. On average, that happens once every eight years.

He says that the last blue supermoon happened in January 2018. The next won’t happen until January 2037.

If you get any good pictures of the supermoon, send them to us here through Pin It.


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