Blue Moon Super Moon

A super blue moon is when a supermoon and blue moon occur at the same time. This is a rare event. These are various types of full moon which are witnessed from Earth. A full moon is when the entire moon is lit up by the sun as visible from the Earth.

Since the Earth and Moon have elliptical orbits (oval shaped), the distance of the Moon from Earth and both their relative position to the Sun creates different views of the Moon. This is why while the moon takes 27.3 days to orbit the Earth, we see a full moon every 29.5 days when the Sun is appropriately situated to light the full moon. The Moon is closest to the Earth it is at the perigee point and apogee is when moon is the farthest.

A super blue moon is a rare occurrence where in a single month a full moon is seen from the Earth and it appears bigger than usual since the Moon is at the point in its orbit where it is closest to the Earth.

• Super Moon: At the Perigee point the moon looks bigger and brighter, this is called the super moon.
• Blue Moon: It is the rare time when there are two full moons in a calendar month. It happens once is approximately two and half months.
• Blood Moon: Happens when during a total lunar eclipse the Moon appears red. A lunar eclipse happens when the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon. This blocks all sunlight to the Moon. Onlyindirect light, deflected from the Earth reaches the moon. This light is scattered by the particles in the atmosphere of Earth. During this process, the blue light gets scattered and the red light with the shortest wavelength gets cast on the moon giving its red colour.

The Super Blue Moon is a rare instance where a second full moon occurs in the same month and it looks bigger because it is on the Perigee point (closest to the Earth on its orbit). While, the Super Blue Moon has no substantial meteorological or tidal implications the many phases and faces of the moon are a beautiful site which generate interest in space.