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In August, two particularly spectacular full moons can be observed from Austria. Once on August 1 around half past 9 in the evening and again on August 31 in the morning hours shortly after half past 4.
The unique thing about the two natural spectacles is: They are so-called supermoons. The moon shines brighter and appears more significant than usual since it comes remarkably close to the Earth. At the beginning of the month, it is only 357,530 kilometres away from our planet; on the night of August 30, it even approaches 357,344 kilometres. The average distance of the moon is about 385,000 kilometres.
The spectacle will not repeat itself until 2037
Even more notable, however, is the fact that there are two supermoons within one month. For the last time, this was 2018 the case. The natural spectacle is to repeat itself only again in the year 2037, as the Italian astronomer Gianluca Masi explains opposite the British newspaper The Independent.
What’s behind the “Blue Moon”?
The rare second full moon in a month has its name in the United States: “Blue Moon.” The origin of this name is not precisely clear. It was first used in a clerical poem in the 16th century.
Contrary to the name suggests, the moon does not appear bluish, either as a blue moon or in other stages. Only during significant volcanic eruptions or forest fires does the atmosphere change so that other colour components of the Earth’s satellite are filtered out, giving it a bluish glow. However, this occurs very rarely.
- source: futurezone.at/picture: pixabay.com
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