True ‘blue moon’ only appears after disastrous event occurs as space fans await ‘year’s biggest’ Super Moon tonight
A BLUE supermoon will light up the night sky this evening.
It’s set to be the biggest and brightest supermoon of the year but space fans may be disappointed with its color.
The supermoon won’t actually look blue to the naked eye.
In fact, it will likely glow orange instead.
Moons can look blue but, usually, this only happens after a huge volcanic explosion.
Nasa has highlighted a time when people did see the Moon looking blue every night.
The space agency revealed on its website: “There was a time, not long ago, when people saw blue moons almost every night.
“Full moons, half moons, crescent moons–they were all blue, except some nights when they were green.
“The time was 1883, the year an Indonesian volcano named Krakatoa exploded.”
Volcanic eruptions help the Moon to appear blue due to the smoke, dust, and ash ejected into the sky.
These tiny particles can scatter red light and leave the Moon looking a blueish color.
The supermoon this evening is called a blue moon because or its rarity.
Nasa explains on its website: “A blue moon is the term for when we see the full moon twice in a single month.
“The Moon’s cycle is 29.5 days, so just a bit shorter than the average length of a calendar 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.”
Despite its more normal shade, the Moon should still look spectacular this evening.
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.