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From Monday, Aug. 19, through Wednesday, Aug. 21, the moon will appear bigger and brighter in the night sky than normal. It's called the supermoon. It's the first one of the year, but that's not why this one is special.
A supermoon occurs when the moon is full and closest to Earth in its orbit, according to NASA. That closeness makes the rocky satellite appear 15 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter.
What makes August's supermoon so unique is that it's a blue moon. No, the light of the moon won't change colors. It refers to a rare phenomenon when a full moon happens twice in a month, or, in this case, when there are four full moons in a three-month season.
However, this blue moon could look red for some people because of the smoke in the atmosphere from the Canadian wildfires, per the BBC.
There will be four consecutive months of supermoons — with it appearing its largest and most luminescent in September and October, according to NASA.
The moon will appear at its highest on Monday afternoon but will remain visible through Wednesday, according to astronomers. You won't need any special equipment to see the supermoon, you'll just need to look up.
But if cloud coverage blocks the view, the Virtual Telescope Project based in Italy has videos of the moon rising and plans live streams of the event.
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