Photos: Super Blue Moon dazzles Southern California and viewers around the world
By Orange County on August 31, 2023
A plane flies past the super blue moon in front of Orange Grove Elementary in Whittier on Wednesday, August 30, 2023. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
A rare blue supermoon — the closest full moon of the year — dazzled stargazers in Southern California and around the world pn Wednesday night.
Saturn joined the celestial spectacle, visible alongside the moon, at least where skies were clear.
A blue super moon rises over the Korean Friendship pagoda in San Pedro, CA, Wednesday, August 30, 2023. A blue moon occurs when there is a second full moon in a given calendar month. The “super” moon is due to its closest location to earth, 221,942 miles, during its orbit. The next super moon will occur in 2037. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
It was the second full moon of August, thus the blue label. And it was unusually close to Earth, therefore a supermoon.
The moon appeared to be bigger and brighter than usual, given its close proximity to Earth: just 222,043 miles or so. The Aug. 1 supermoon was more than 100 miles farther away.
A blue super moon rises over the Korean Friendship pagoda in San Pedro, CA, Wednesday, August 30, 2023. A blue moon occurs when there is a second full moon in a given calendar month. The “super” moon is due to its closest location to earth, 221,942 miles, during its orbit. The next super moon will occur in 2037. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
If you missed it, it will be a long wait: The next blue supermoon isn’t until 2037.
But another regular supermoon is on the horizon at the end of September, the last one of the year.
A supermoon rises over Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. The cosmic curtain rose with the second full moon of the month, also known as a blue moon. A little bigger and brighter thanks to its slightly closer position to Earth. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)A super blue moon is seen above the stadium lights during the game between the Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)A supermoon rises over a headstone at a cemetery in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. The cosmic curtain rose with the second full moon of the month, also known as a blue moon. A little bigger and brighter thanks to its slightly closer position to Earth. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)A super blue moon rises over downtown Houston on the Buffalo Bayou Trail on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023 in Houston. (Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle via AP)SAN RAFAEL, CA – AUGUST 30 A man sits on a rock along the San Francisco Bay Trail as he watches the super blue moon rise in San Rafael, Calif. on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)A supermoon rises over Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. The cosmic curtain rose with the second full moon of the month, also known as a blue moon. A little bigger and brighter thanks to its slightly closer position to Earth. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)The moon is seen over the skyline in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)A peacock sits on a chimney as a nearly full moon rises behind it, in Hyderabad, India, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. August 30 will see the month’s second supermoon, when a full moon appears a little bigger and brighter thanks to its slightly closer position to Earth. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)
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