Next comes a waxing gibbous moon - part way between a first quarter and a full moon. During a first quarter moon, skywatchers see a quarter of the entire Moon illuminated. But if you think about it, the moon can be split into four quarters: two on the side of the moon facing us and then two on the side that faces away from the Earth. Over time, we begin to see more of it and we say the moon is waxing.įirst, we see a waxing crescent, then a so-called “ first quarter moon.” It's a slightly confusing name because it actually appears as a half-illuminated moon in the night sky. We say the moon is " new" when there's no light from the moon reaching Earth. Here's what it will look like tonight: What are the moon's phases? In fact, it is possible to work out the dates we'd see these phases for the next 50 million years. It’s best to catch this one while you can.As the phases are the moon are caused by the moon's orbit around Earth, they are entirely predictable. The sky show is gorgeous, the sky show is free, but the sky show doesn’t happen every day. 1, when the moon will continue to appear full before finally entering its waning phase later that day. The spectacle will continue through Friday morning, Sept. But if you miss this one, you don’t have to wait quite so long to see another one: According to NASA, there will be two super blue moons in January and March of 2037.īut why miss this one at all? The best viewing begins at 9:36 p.m, in the east- southeastern sky, when the moon rises fully above the horizon. Sometimes 20 years will elapse between the appearances of super blue moons. But a supermoon that’s also a blue moon? That’s a much rarer beast. Another four will appear from August through November of next year. This week’s is the third one of the year, with a fourth one on tap for Sept. About 25% of all full moons are supermoons, NASA says. Comparing its size to smaller surface features like houses and trees makes the lunar disk look far larger still.įor all of the hoopla created by supermoons, they’re actually quite common. The phenomenon is especially striking when the moon is close to the horizon, where it benefits from an optical illusion. A full moon at perigee appears 14% larger and 30% brighter than a full moon at a more distant remove. But when it is a full moon, things are different. That difference doesn’t show itself much when a moon is a mere crescent. Instead the moon’s orbit is elliptical, with its closest approach to Earth-or perigee-measuring 357,000 km (222,000 miles) compared to an apogee-or farthest approach-of 406,000 km. That kind of explosive release of energy was not likely to lead to a tidy, circular orbit-and it didn't. About 4.5 billion years ago, a small, Mars-sized planet collided with the infant Earth, sending up a cloud of debris from both worlds that eventually coalesced into the moon. Read More: How India Became the First Country to Reach the Moon's South Pole But then there’s the “supermoon” label to consider too. Only 3% of full moons are blue moons, according to NASA, so tonight’s moon would be noteworthy no matter what. 1, so tonight’s full moon comes in just under the wire to qualify for the blue distinction. Instead, the label– whose provenance is unsettled-refers to the second full moon in any single month. For starters there is nothing remotely blue about the way the moon will look tonight. The ”super blue moon” label requires a little unpacking. 1, a rare “super blue moon” will rise in the skies, creating a spectacle that thrills photographers, amateur sky watchers and even seasoned astronomers. eastern time, through the morning of Sept. Three days later, India-very much a newbie in the moon game- successfully stuck its landing, earning this year’s top honors for lunar exploration.īut the moon hardly needs human intervention to make cosmic headlines. 20, Russia’s plans came to ruin, after an engine burn intended to fine-tune the ship’s descent went awry. For most of the month, uncrewed spacecraft from Russia and India were in a hot cosmic race to see which country would earn the bragging rights of being the first to safely land a ship in the moon’s south polar region. The moon has been much in the news this August.
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