The moon wasn’t really blue. The name indicates when it appeared. It is the second full moon of this month, hence the name “blue moon”. In addition, the moon is much closer to Earth than usual, which also gives it the nickname “supermoon”. The first supermoon was already visible on August 1st. At the time, it was about 357,530 kilometers away from Earth.
Tonight is a little closer: about 357,344 kilometers away. This makes it appear about 14 percent longer. And because the moon moves in an elliptical orbit around the Earth, it is sometimes closer to the Earth and sometimes farther from it. From our country, the supermoon was hard to spot. You immediately needed a small telescope or binoculars and could only see them from 3.30am.
Those who missed this phenomenon will have to be content with the photos below. The next “super blue moon” won’t happen until 2037.
