Two supermoons will brighten the night sky in August
By Terry Eliasen, WBZ-TV Meteorologist, Executive Weather Producer
BOSTON - Happening Tuesday night: The full Sturgeon moon!
What a great night for it! It will rise in the east at 8:36 p.m., just after sunset. And to boot, it will be the second in a series of four "supermoons."
A supermoon happens when you have a full moon occurring when the moon is at perigee, meaning the time period when the moon is closest to Earth in its orbit.
On Tuesday, the moon will be about 222,000 miles from Earth, approximately 20,000 miles closer than the average.
Supermoons actually do look bigger (about 8%) and brighter (about 16%) than the average full moon.
One more little tidbit. . . this month we will actually have TWO supermoons! The second full moon of the month (also known as a "blue moon") on August 30th, will also be a "super-blue moon"!