Rare blue supermoon will light up the sky this week – it can affect animals, oceans, and your sleep
A RARE supermoon will brighten the night sky in just two days’ time.
A spectacular lunar phenomenon known as a blue supermoon is set to grace us on August 30th.
A blue moon refers to a full moon being seen twice in one month – this happens once every two to three years.
Meanwhile, a supermoon happens when the moon is closest to Earth in its orbit.
and when the two phenomena coincide, this results in the moon appearing very large in the night sky – often with an orangeish hue.
Nasa explains on its website that because the moon’s cycle is 29.5 days, sometimes it happens twice in one month.
“Eventually that gap results in a full moon happening at the beginning of a month with enough days still remaining for another full cycle ― so a second full moon in the same month.”
Earlier this month, on August 1, we already witnessed one supermoon, making the second even more rare.
HOW TO VIEW THE BLUE SUPERMOON
The Moon will look very large the day before and a few days after August 30.
During this time it appears 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than usual.
You shouldn’t have any trouble spotting the Supermoon as it’s the brightest thing in the sky.
It’s worth viewing it when it’s lower on the horizon so it looks larger.
Check the moonrise time for your location and prepare to see it at 222,043 miles from Earth.
HOW SUPERMOONS AFFECT THINGS
Studies have shown that when the moon gets closer to Earth, it can affect things like the tides and even some animals’ behaviors.
“When we combine the moon being unusually close and near full, we get a double impact on tides,” The Natural Navigator writes.
“The high will be abnormally high and the low abnormally low,” it continued.
Meanwhile, certain wildlife like coral engage in more sexual behavior during the full moon, per Live Science.
Some experts have even linked full moons to worse sleep quality in humans because of the increased brightness in the sky.