You Can (Hopefully) See a Full Super Blue Moon Tonight

Tonight, a rare trifecta can be seen in the Beijing night sky that gives the name to that saying "once in a blue moon": a full, super, blue moon. Well, hopefully, as rain and thunderstorms have been forecast for this evening.*

Be that as it may, here's the lowdown. A full moon is pretty self-explanatory, but what about the super and blue moon bit? According to NASA, a supermoon occurs when the moon passes through the point closest to Earth (perigee) when it is full. A blue moon, on the other hand, designates a second full moon occurring in the same month, not the color of the moon itself.

A blue moon happens every two or three years because, NASA says, the moon has a cycle of 29.5 days, a little less than a calendar month. When a full moon occurs at the beginning of the month, as it did on Aug 1 this year – dubbed a Sturgeon Moon – there’s enough time for it to happen again, hence why we have a blue moon tonight.

So, let's hope the rain won't cloud your moon gazing tonight. If you can't make it out, there will be a live stream of the moon happening tonight via this Ruptly link: https://www.ruptly.tv/en/events/202308301100-LIVE15378-blue-moon-rises-over-beijing-in-largest-and-brightest-lunar-spectacle-of-2023.

*The big moon should stretch into tomorrow night as well, when it becomes a waning gibbus, ie not quite full but still full.

The full super blue moon also coincides with the Hungry Ghost Festival, itself part of the ongoing Ghost Month. Get yourself spooked by reading one of the scariest ghost stories to come out of Beijing here

Images: Uni You