These photos only come around once in a blue Moon, literally. The rare sight of a “blue supermoon” attracted photographers from all across the world last night.
A Moon is “blue” when it is the second full Moon to occur in a calendar month. It means that 2023 will have 13 full Moons rather than the ordinary 12 — this only happens every two to three years.
But this was no ordinary blue Moon because it was also a supermoon. Earth’s lunar satellite was 18,000 miles closer than usual — making it officially a supermoon as it loomed even larger through photographers’ lenses.
According to NASA, the last blue supermoon was in 2009 and the next one won’t be until 2037.
Fortunately, photographers were out in force capturing spectacular images of the celestial phenomena — including Kelias in Liverpool, England who captured stunning photos of the supermoon rising behind the city’s iconic Liver Birds.
In New York City, clouds spoiled the view but Gary Hershorn still captured beautiful photos of the blue supermoon outshining the bright lights of Manhattan Island.
Back over in the U.K., John Pow was at the lighthouse in Fife, Scotland to capture the serene Moon highlighting the nearby clouds. And further south on the British Isles, Veronica in the Fens captured the super full blue rising over Ely Cathedral.
Meanwhile, Accuweather posted a timelapse of the super blue Moon rising over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransisco and Abir Sultan captured it rising over the ancient fortress of Migdal Tsedek National Park near Rosh Haayin in Israel.
Did you catch the rare super blue moon last night? It won’t be seen again until January and March of 2037! 🤩 #supermoon pic.twitter.com/wm7zpMqhLm
— AccuWeather (@accuweather) August 31, 2023
Peekaboo! pic.twitter.com/mYSY1KteRC
— Andrew McCarthy (@AJamesMcCarthy) August 31, 2023
Backyard astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy battled clouds obscuring his view but still managed to get a spectacular shot of it peeking through the clouds.
Image credits: Feature photo by Kelias Photography and Gary Hershorn.