A FULL MOON appearing above Ireland this week will be the rare combination of a supermoon and a blue moon for the first time in 14 years, Astronomy Ireland has announced.
The group has encouraged the public to watch the skies tonight, Wednesday and Thursday for the rare celestial event.
The moon’s distance from the Earth can vary, sometimes making it appear up to 30% brighter than normal. When a full moon happens around the time that the moon is closest to Earth it is called a supermoon.
There are usually three supermoons every year but this week will see a supermoon occur during a blue moon, when a second full moon occurs during one calendar month.
This hasn’t happened since 2009, and won’t happen again until 2037, Astronomy Ireland’s David Moore told The Journal.
“There have to be 168 full moons to give one Super BlueMoon. This is how rare they are. This is why we want all 7 million people on this island to witness this unique event,” he said.
Making the event even more unusual is the fact that Saturn will also be visible because it is nearing its closest point to the earth.
“The moon will be brighter than usual and will Saturn also, appearing just above the moon like a little star. We’ve run the calculations and Saturn won’t be visible during a super blue moon for the rest of the century,” Moore said.
“It’s a once in a lifetime event.”
The ideal time to watch is just as the moon is rising in the east. From Ireland this will happen tonight from 8:15pm, Wednesday from 8:35pm and Thursday from 8:50pm.
Moore added that even with the light pollution in a city like Dublin and the unpredictability of clouds in Irish weather, it’s very likely that everyone looking skyward will have a chance to see the super blue moon with Saturn this week.
Met Éireann has forecast that tonight will be relatively clear for the most part, Wednesday night will have some cloud cover and Thursday night will have scatterings of cloud across the country.
“The super blue moon is technically on Wednesday night, when it reaches a full moon but the human eye can’t distinguish the difference in the moon’s shape a day or so on either side. So it will look identical over the next three nights,” Moore said.
“We’re trying to get the whole country out taking pictures to send them into Astronomy Ireland Magazine to record this in a lifetime event.”
Saturn will remain visible in the night sky for several weeks and Astronomy Ireland will be holding a “StarB-Q” on 9 September in Roundwood, Co. Wicklow, Ireland’s highest village.
Attendees will be able to view Saturn’s rings and its moons from high-powered telescopes.
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