Tonight the eyes from the sky, the Blue Moon will rise, the biggest of the year

Today, Wednesday, August 30, one of the biggest and brightest moons of the year will emerge. This full moon is called a blue moon, a term that can represent two things: Either the third full moon in a season that has four full moons, or, more commonly, the second of two full moons that fall in a calendar month.

This Full Blue Moon will also be a “super full moon,” a popular term for a full moon that occurs when our physical satellite is closest to Earth, making it appear slightly larger in the sky.

However, the moon will not be blue, but orange. We got our first taste of unique images from the full supermoon earlier this month, but the August 30-31 “blue moon” promises even more impressive images.

According to the website Live Science there are two types of blue moons. August’s blue supermoon belongs to the first category (“calendar blue moon”), where we have two full moons in the same month. This happens every two or three years as a new full moon occurs every 29.5 days. The next blue moon will be seen on May 31, 2026.

The second type of blue moon, called a “seasonal blue moon,” describes the third of four full moons during an astronomical period. This happens when a calendar year has 13 full moons instead of 12. The next seasonal blue moon, which also happens every two or three years, will occur on August 19, 2024.