This Week’s Supermoon: A Rare Blue Moon Lights Up the Night Sky Closest to Earth in 2021
This week, those who enjoy observing the night sky will have the opportunity to witness a unique occurrence: a blue supermoon accompanied by the appearance of Saturn.
The cosmic curtain rises on Wednesday night with the second full moon of the month, which is why it is considered blue. It’s called a supermoon because it’s closer to Earth than usual and looks especially big and bright.
This is the closest full moon of the year, just 222,043 miles (357,344 kilometers) away. It’s more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) closer than the August 1st supermoon.
As a bonus, according to NASA, Saturn appears as a bright dot 5 degrees to the upper right of the Moon at sunset in the east-southeast sky. The ringed planet appears to rotate clockwise around the moon as the night progresses.
If you missed the first spectacle of the month, you should catch this one. According to Italian astronomer Gianluca Masi, founder of the Virtual Telescope Project, there will be no more blue supermoon before 2037.
Clouds spoiled Masi’s attempt to live stream the supermoon earlier this month. He’s hoping for clearer skies this time so he can capture the brilliant blue supermoon above St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
Weather permitting, observers won’t need binoculars or telescopes — “just their own eyes,” said Masi.
“I’m always excited to see the beauty of the night sky,” she said, especially when it features a blue supermoon.
The first supermoon of 2023 was in July. The fourth and last one is in September.
