Super Blue Moon

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Context: The rare supermoon blue moon, also known as the ‘Sturgeon Moon’ appeared on August 19, 2024.

The Moon

• Earth has only one satellite, that is, the moon.
• Its diametre is only one-quarter that of the earth.
• It appears so big because it is nearer to our planet than other celestial bodies.
• It is about 3,84,400 km away from Earth.
• The moon moves around the earth in about 27 days.
• It takes exactly the same time to complete one spin. As a result, only one side of the moon is visible to us on the earth.

Occurrence of Phases:

• Unlike the Sun and the other stars, the moon can’t produce its own light.
• Moon is visible because the sunlight falling on it gets reflected towards Earth.
• Only that part of the Moon is visible on which the light of the Sun is reflected towards Earth.
• The illuminated part of the moon visible from the Earth increases per day after the new moon day.
• After the full moon day, the part of the moon that is sunlit and is visible decreases in size.
• The moon revolves around the Earth. The Earth along with the moon, revolves around the Sun.
• The moon completes its one revolution around the earth along with one rotation on its axis.
• The duration between a full moon to the next full moon is longer than 29 days. This is known as a month in many calendar systems.

Phases of Moon

New Moon:

• This is the invisible phase of the Moon, with the illuminated side of the Moon facing the Sun and the night side facing Earth.
• In this phase, the Moon is in the same part of the sky as the Sun and rises and sets with the Sun.
• Not only is the illuminated side facing away from the Earth, it’s also up during the day.
• In this phase, the Moon doesn’t usually pass directly between Earth and the Sun, due to the inclination of the Moon’s orbit.
• It only passes near the Sun from our perspective on Earth.

Waxing Crescent

• This silver sliver of a Moon occurs when the illuminated half of the Moon faces mostly away from Earth, with only a tiny portion visible to us from our planet.
• It grows daily as the Moon’s orbit carries the Moon’s dayside farther into view.
• Every day, the Moon rises a little bit later.

First Quarter

• The Moon is now a quarter of the way through its monthly journey and we see half of its illuminated side.
• People may casually call this a half moon, but, that’s not really what we’re witnessing in the sky.
• We ’re seeing just a slice of the entire Moon ― half of the illuminated half.
• A first quarter moon rises around noon and sets around midnight.

Waxing Gibbous

• Now most of the Moon’s dayside has come into view, and the Moon appears brighter in the sky.

Full Moon

• This is as close as we come to seeing the Sun’s illumination of the entire day side of the Moon (so, technically, this would be the real half moon).
• The Moon is opposite the Sun, as viewed from Earth, revealing the Moon’s dayside.
• A full moon rises around sunset and sets around sunrise.
• The Moon will appear full for a couple of days before it moves into.

Waning Gibbous

• As the Moon begins its journey back toward the Sun, the opposite side of the Moon now reflects the Moon’s light.
• The lighted side appears to shrink, but the Moon’s orbit is simply carrying it out of view from our perspective.
• The Moon rises later and later each night.

Last Quarter

• The Moon looks like it’s half illuminated from the perspective of Earth, but really you’re seeing half of the half of the Moon that’s illuminated by the Sun ― or a quarter.
• A last quarter moon, also known as a third quarter moon, rises around midnight and sets around noon.

Waning Crescent

• The Moon is nearly back to the point in its orbit where its dayside directly faces the Sun, and all that we see from our perspective is a thin curve.

What is a blue moon?

• As the cycle of the phases of the moon lasts approximately one month, we typically experience 12 full moons each year.
• Many cultures have given distinct names to each month's full moon. 12 months, 12 full moons, 12 names.
• The moon phases actually take 29.5 days to complete which means it takes just 354 days to complete 12 lunar cycles.
• So every 2.5 years or so a 13th full moon is observed within a calendar year.
• This 13th full moon doesn't conform to the normal naming scheme and is referred to as the Blue Moon.

Will the Moon Look Blue?

• Even though it’s called a blue moon, the moon won’t look blue. The only time the moon might appear bluish is if there are certain atmospheric conditions, like smoke or dust.
• Normally, the moon will look more yellow or orange when it’s close to the horizon because of the way light scatters in the atmosphere.

How often do Blue Moons occur?

• Blue Moon happens approximately every two to three years.
• Since there are about 29.5 days between full moons, February will never have a monthly Blue Moon, as it only has 28 days in a common year and 29 in a leap year.
• Occasionally, February may have no full moon at all, a phenomenon known as a Black Moon, according to Time and Date.

What is a super moon?

• The term ‘supermoon‘ was first coined by astronomer Richard Nolle in 1979.
• The orbit of the moon around the earth is not circular; it is elliptical, that is, an elongated or stretched-out circle.

• The farthest point in this ellipse is called the apogeeand is about 253,000 miles (405,500 kilometers) from Earth on average.
• Its closest point is the perigee, which is an average distance of about 226,000 miles (363,300 kilometers) from Earth.
• When a full moon appears at perigee it is slightly brighter and larger than a regular full moon – and that's where we get a "supermoon”.

• A super moon (at perigee) is about 14% larger and 30% brighter than a "micro moon" (at apogee).

Blood Moon During a total lunar eclipse, sunlight passing through the Earth’s atmosphere that breaks down its constituent colours, and the red part gets scattered by the atmosphere and falls on the Moon’s surface and forming its reddish copper colour- this phenomenon is called Blood Moon.

What is Super blue moon and Why is this rare and significant?

• A super blue moon combines a supermoon and a blue moon.
• Blending the rarity of a supermoon with the uncommon blue moon phenomenon about once every 10 to 20 years.
• The next chance to catch this rare combination will be in January and March 2037, making August 2024 a particularly special treat for stargazers.

Source

https://science.nasa.gov/moon/moon-phases/

https://www.space.com/15455-blue-moon.html

https://moon.nasa.gov/resources/429/the-moons-orbit-and-rotation/

PRACTICE QUESTION Q. Consider the following statements regarding Super Blue Moon: Super Blue Moon is the convergence of three lunar occurrences - a full Moon, a Super Moon, and a blue Moon. Moon is called blue moon because it necessarily looks blue due to refraction of light in its atmosphere. Super moon happens when the moon is passing through or is close to its perigee, and is also a full moon. Which of the above statements is/are correct? A. 1 only B. 2 and 3 only C. 1 and 3 only D. 2 only Answer C Statement 2 is incorrect:  Even though it’s called a blue moon, the moon won’t look blue. The only time the moon might appear bluish is if there are certain atmospheric conditions, like smoke or dust.