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1st August 2023
04:33pm BST
The cosmos is offering up a double feature this week - a pair of supermoons.
And the display will culminate in a rare blue moon.
The first show is due tonight as the full moon rises in the southeast, appearing slightly brighter and bigger than normal.
According to ABC News, the moon will be closer than usual at 222,159 miles (357,530 kms) away.
Because the moon is so close, it is deemed a supermoon.
It will be even closer on 30 August - at 222,043 miles.
Because it’s the second full moon in the same month, it will be what's called a blue moon.
“Warm summer nights are the ideal time to watch the full moon rise in the eastern sky within minutes of sunset. And it happens twice in August,” ABC News quoted retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak, dubbed Mr Eclipse for his eclipse-chasing expertise, as saying.
The last time two full supermoons were visible to the naked eye in the same month was in 2018 and it won't happened against until 2037.
Italian astronomer Gianluca Masi, founder of the Virtual Telescope Project, will provide a live webcast of Tuesday evening’s supermoon, as it rises over the Coliseum in Rome.
“My plans are to capture the beauty of this … hopefully bringing the emotion of the show to our viewers,” Masi said in an email to ABC News.
“The supermoon offers us a great opportunity to look up and discover the sky,” he added.
This year’s first supermoon was in July.
The fourth and last will be in September.
August's supermoons will be closer than either of those.
Provided clear skies, binoculars or backyard telescopes can enhance the experience, Espenak said.
According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the August full moon is traditionally known as the sturgeon moon because of the abundance of that fish in the Great Lakes in August, hundreds of years ago.
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