‘Sturgeon’ supermoon to light up the skies next week
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A 'Sturgeon' supermoon will be soon be lighting up the sky.
That's quite a lot of technical language going on there. Believe it or not each of the words in that definition actually carries a specific meaning relating to exactly what the Moon is doing during that period.
It might seem a bit odd - who would follow the movements of the Moon so closely, apart from maybe werewolves?
Quite a lot of people it turns out, as this could tell us about things such as tides. There is also a lot of folklore in agriculture around the Moon.
On Tuesday (1 August), the second full supermoon of the year - the 'Sturgeon' supermoon - is set to occur at 19:31 BST, before rising at 21:23 BST - assuming that it's not cloudy, of course.
But where does the 'Sturgeon' supermoon get its name from?
It turns out that it's not, in fact, a reference to the former leader of the Scottish National Party, but actually refers to something else entirely.
Many believe it refers to the sturgeon fish that are found in the Great Lakes of North America which are prized for their caviar, and become active around this time of year.
A supermoon is when a full Moon coincides with the Moon passing the closest to the Earth on its orbit, as the orbit of the Moon is not a perfect circle, but elliptical. This means that the Moon appears slightly larger and brighter in the sky than usual.
Meanwhile, a 'Blue Moon' occurs when there are two full Moons in the same month, which is what is due to happen this August.
It usually takes the Moon about 29.5 days to complete a full cycle, meaning that most of the time there is only one full Moon in the month. However, occasionally it happens that the full cycle falls within a month and we have two.
But, it's worth noting that Blue Moon is not actually blue in colour and is more likely to appear orange than blue.
On this occasion the Blue Moon will fall on 31 August at 02:35 BST.
Looks like it's time to get your telescope at the ready!
Featured Image Credit: Lorenzo Di Cola/NurPhoto/Dinendra Haria/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
Topics: News, Space, World News
