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19th August 2024
04:04pm BST
If you’re one of the lucky ones who doesn’t have a sky filled with rain clouds, tonight you may be able to see a rare blue supermoon on the horizon.
The site will kick off a series of astronomical events over the next few days.
Supermoons occur when a full moon rises during its closest point in its orbit to Earth while a blue moon happens when there are two full moons within a single calendar month or four full moons within a season.
They are quite rare hence the saying ‘once in a blue moon’ and occur once every two to three years.
Blue moons aren’t actually blue, in fact it is thought that tonight’s moon may have a red glow due to dust caused by wildfires that are sweeping across the US.
People have been sharing their snaps of the moon on social media as for the past two nights it has been quite an impressive site across the UK.
However, that was just a warm-up for the main attraction which will take place tonight.
The best time to spot a supermoon is during moonrise. It is estimated to be most prevalent around 8.30pm.
The further north you travel, the later it will be, John O’Groats moonrise is occurring at 9.10pm.
The next supermoon will be on 18 September, followed by one on 17 October and another on 15 November.
The September supermoon also coincides with a partial lunar eclipse.
The last time there was a blue supermoon was last August but the next one is not scheduled until 2037.
