ALAN: PHOTO OF THE DAY: Supermoon Rising, For First Time in 152 Years, Three Lunar Events Coincide
By Space Coast Daily // February 5, 2018
For the first time in 152 years, three lunar events coincided with each other on the night of January 31 including a supermoon, a blue moon and blood moon, making it one of the rarest and beautiful lunar displays in recent years.
Sky watchers saw the moon looking brighter and larger when the three lunar events coincided for the first time in 35 years. A supermoon occurs when the Moon is unusually close to the Earth which makes it appear larger and brighter in the sky.
Out of the 12 or 13 full Moons that occur each year, only three or four achieve supermoon status and 2018 has already been host to two supermoons.
A supermoon is a full moon at its closest point to Earth during its orbit. This most recent supermoon was extra special because it was also a blue moon – the second full moon in a calendar month – and a blood moon, a moon which occurs during a lunar eclipse.
A lunar eclipse happens when the Earth moves between the sun and the moon, blocking sunlight from hitting the moon. As this happens, the moon takes on a reddish color, which is how it got the name “blood moon.”
