Once in a bluemoon 要看到满月亮

 To see the full moon, look east after sunset – if you have a clear horizon it should be obvious.

要看到满月亮，请在日落后向东看——如果地平线清晰的话，它应该是显而易见的。Yào kàn dào mǎn yuèliàng, qǐng zài rì luòhòu xiàng dōng kàn——rúguǒ dìpíngxiàn qīngxī dehuà, tā yīnggāi shì xiǎn'éryìjiàn de.

Rare blue supermoon brightens the night sky this week in the closest full moon of the year

● Dubbed ‘supermoon’ because it’s closer to Earth than usual, especially big and bright – and there won’t be another one like it until 2037.

○ As a bonus, Saturn will be visible as a bright 0.5 degrees to the right of the moon at sunset from some locations, according to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) .

The last blue supermoon until 2037 will rise tonight. Here's how to watch.

Stargazers are in for a double treat this week: a rare blue supermoon with Saturn peeking from behind.

The cosmic curtain rises on Wednesday night with the second full moon of the month, the reason it’s considered blue. It’s dubbed a supermoon because it’s closer to Earth than usual, appearing especially big and bright.

This will be the closest full moon of the year, just 357,344 kilometres or so away. That’s more than 160km closer than the August 1 supermoon.

As a bonus, Saturn will be visible as a bright point 5 degrees to the upper right of the moon at sunset in the east-southeastern sky, according to Nasa. The ringed planet will appear to circle clockwise around the moon as the night wears on.

If you missed the month’s first spectacle, better catch this one. There won’t be another blue supermoon until 2037, according to Italian astronomer Gianluca Masi, founder of the Virtual Telescope Project.

Clouds spoiled Masi’s attempt to livestream the supermoon rising earlier this month. He’s hoping for clearer skies this time so he can capture the blue supermoon shining above St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.

Weather permitting, observers don’t need binoculars or telescopes – “just their own eyes,” said Masi.

“I’m always excited to admire the beauty of the night sky,” he said, especially when it features a blue supermoon.

The first supermoon of 2023 was in July. The fourth and last will be in September.

Rare blue supermoon brightens the night sky this week in the closest full moon of the year.

Dubbed ‘supermoon’ because it’s closer to Earth than usual, especially big and bright – and there won’t be another one like it until 2037.

As a bonus, Saturn will be visible as a bright 0.5 degrees to the right of the moon at sunset from some locations, according to NASA.

Stargazers are in for a double treat this week: a rare blue supermoon with Saturn peeking from behind.

The cosmic curtain rises on Wednesday night with the second full moon of the month, the reason it’s considered blue. It’s dubbed a supermoon because it’s closer to Earth than usual, appearing especially big and bright.

This will be the closest full moon of the year, just 357,344 kilometres or so away. That’s more than 160km closer than the August 1 supermoon.

As a bonus, Saturn will be visible as a bright point 5 degrees to the upper right of the moon at sunset in the east-southeastern sky, according to Nasa. The ringed planet will appear to circle clockwise around the moon as the night wears on.

If you missed the month’s first spectacle, better catch this one. There won’t be another blue supermoon until 2037, according to Italian astronomer Gianluca Masi, founder of the Virtual Telescope Project.

Clouds spoiled Masi’s attempt to livestream the supermoon rising earlier this month. He’s hoping for clearer skies this time so he can capture the blue supermoon shining above St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.

Weather permitting, observers don’t need binoculars or telescopes – “just their own eyes,” said Masi.

“I’m always excited to admire the beauty of the night sky,” he said, especially when it features a blue supermoon.

The first supermoon of 2023 was in July. The fourth and last will be in September.

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How and where to see the super blue moon on Thursday – and why they are more common than you might think.

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What is going on with the moon this month – and why are some calling it the super blue moon? A professor of astronomy reveals why August 2023 has two full moons

He tells us where and when to look for the lunar phenomenon, why it appears larger than a regular full moon and what else to look for in the skies that night.

No month is complete without a full moon, but just occasionally there are two.

When a full moon appears over Hong Kong on the evening of Thursday, August 31, it will be the second in the same month, and also the biggest and brightest of 2023. It will also be the only full moon of 2023 without a recognised name.

What is going on with the moon this month – and why are some calling it the super blue moon?

“As the moon’s orbital period around the Earth is 29.5 days, two full moons are possible in a normal month,” says Don Pollacco, professor of astronomy at the University of Warwick in the UK. Since the first full moon in August – the Super Sturgeon Moon – was on Wednesday, August 2, there is time for a second full moon to occur later the same month.

Despite the “once in a blue moon” saying that the phenomenon has spawned, blue moons – those extra ones that do not fit the regular annual naming convention – are not terribly rare, being inevitable about every 2.7 years. That is because a lunar year lasts 354 days, around 11 days shorter than a solar year.

Its occurrence means there will be 13 full moons in 2023.

Although it officially turns 100 per cent lit by the Sun as seen from Earth at 9.36am Hong Kong time on Thursday, August 31, the super blue moon will become visible from the city only later that day, after it rises in the east at 7.07pm local time.

The biggest and brightest full moon of 2023 will rise on Aug. 30, and its strange name deserves an explanation. Called a "blue supermoon," it is the result of three lunar phenomena happening at once. Such a rare cosmic overlap will not occur again until 2037.

The "blue" supermoon's name has nothing to do with the moon's color. In fact, it will actually be orange. The blue supermoon gets the first part of its name for a different reason: It's the second full moon in August.

There are two types of blue moon. The August blue supermoon falls into the first category: two full moons occurring in the same month. That's occasionally inevitable; a new full moon rises every 29.5 days. Given that the Sturgeon Moon occurred on Aug. 1, 2023, the Aug. 30 full moon will be a blue moon. Blue moons of this type, called "calendar blue moons," occur roughly every two or three years, with the next one occurring on May 31, 2026.

The second type of blue moon, called a "seasonal blue moon," describes the third full moon of four during one astronomical season. This occurs when a calendar year has 13 full moons instead of the typical 12. (A lunar year — 12 orbits of Earth by the moon — takes 354 days, while Earth's solar year is 365 days.) The next seasonal blue moon, which also happens every two or three years, will occur on Aug. 19, 2024.

So, where does the second part of the name come from? A supermoon occurs when the full moon is close to its nearest point to Earth in its orbit. The moon's orbit of Earth is elliptical, so every month, it reaches a closest point (perigee) and farthest point (apogee). Moons that come within 90% of perigee in a given month qualify as supermoons. 

August's second full moon is the third and closest of four supermoons in 2023. At 222,043 miles (357,344 kilometers) from Earth, it will be the biggest and brightest supermoon of 2023, though it will be only 115 miles (186 kilometers) closer than Aug. 1's full moon, which was 222,158 miles (357,530 km) away.

The next full moon will be the Harvest Moon, on Sept. 29. In addition to being one of the best-known full moons of the year, it's the last supermoon in 2023.

Find out the exact time of moonrise for your location, and prepare for the spectacular sight of the blue supermoon on the eastern horizon tonight. The moon will rise after sunset and will be visible with the naked eye. The moon will appear slightly larger while it is near the horizon or passing close to any mountains, buildings or treetops that happen to be in the way, due to an optical illusion called the moon illusion.

If the weather is cloudy or otherwise unfavorable for moon viewing in your location, you can watch a free livestream of the full moon rising over Rome Italy, starting at 11:30 p.m. ET on Aug. 30 (0330 GMT on Aug. 31), courtesy of the Virtual Telescope Project.