We have some special celestial treats for sky gazers to enjoy tonight and again at the end of the month here in New England.
This month features not one but two full moons. If a month has two full moons, as this August does, the second one is often called a Blue Moon. A supermoon is a full moon or a new moon that nearly coincides with perigee—the closest that the Moon comes to the Earth in its elliptic orbit—resulting in a slightly larger-than-usual apparent size of the Moon as viewed from Earth. So, it’s full supermoon Tuesday and a full super blue moon at the end of the month on August 30.
And there is a clear sky in the forecast tonight to view the full moon with moonrise at 8:36 p.m. in Boston. This moon is nicknamed the “Sturgeon” or “Corn” moon. Looking between 1900 and 2050, the Moon has reached full phase close enough to perigee to meet at least one of the definitions of supermoon 19 times, or an average of once about every 7.9 years, which isn't all that rare but can seem that way when years with a super blue moon are separated by as few as five and as many as 14 years. The last blue supermoon occurred five year ago, back in January of 2018, and the next will occur in 14 years, on January 31, 2037, according to Tony Rice, NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador.
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Unrelated to the moon – there’s a rocket launch to check out in the skies of the Northeast tonight. The Antares rocket launch will be from Wallops, Virginia tonight at 8:31p.m. Southwestern Connecticut will be able to view the launch at about 8:33 p.m. and then the rocket is visible in most of Massachusetts approximately 150 to 180 seconds after the launch – so take a peek southwest around 8:33 to 8:34 p.m.
