Don’t miss your chance to see a bright blue supermoon over Illinois. When to look up
A unique full moon will be visible from Illinois soon, and Belleville residents should be able to enjoy ideal viewing conditions.
The sturgeon moon, which is a blue moon and a supermoon, will become full at 1:26 p.m. Central Daylight Time Monday, according to NASA.
The moon will appear full from Sunday morning to early Wednesday morning, and the National Weather Service St. Louis office forecasts “mostly clear” skies and mild temperatures in Belleville Monday night.
A supermoon is defined as either a new or full moon that occurs when the moon is within 90% of its closest approach to earth, NASA reports, and supermoons are the “biggest and brightest” full moons of the year.
This month’s moon is also referred to as the “sturgeon moon” because of the abundance of fish typically found in late summer, according to the Farmers’ Almanac. Many moon names come from Indigenous cultures. The Farmers’ Almanac uses Indigenous moon names, along with monikers from colonial America and other North American sources.
August’s moon is also considered a “blue” moon by some astronomers, in addition to being a supermoon.
What is a blue moon?
There’s no universally agreed upon definition of a blue moon by astronomers.
One NASA article from August 2023 defines a blue moon as when we see a full moon twice in a single month, while a NASA article from this month defines it as the third full moon in a season with four full moons.
These are two common definitions of a blue moon; most astronomers use one or the other. Neither of these definitions refer to a moon that is blue in color, although on rare occasions the moon can appear blue from Earth by viewing it through a haze of dust particles in our atmosphere, according to Royal Museums Greenwich.
More full moons in 2024
Here’s when to see the rest of 2024’s full moons, with information from astronomy publication Space.com:
Sept. 17: Harvest moon (supermoon and partial lunar eclipse)
Oct. 17: Hunter’s moon (supermoon)
Nov. 15: Beaver moon (supermoon)
Dec. 15: Cold moon
The St. Louis Astronomical Society will host a public telescope viewing from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at McDonnell Planetarium, weather-permitting.
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