August will be bookended by two very special full moons.
The month will kick off with the full Sturgeon Moon on Tuesday, August 1, and it will end with another full moon — a rare celestial event known as a blue moon — on Wednesday, August 30.
What’s more, both of these full moons will be supermoons: the term for when a full moon happens at the same time it reaches its closest point to Earth in a month. Supermoons can occur a few times each year, according to EarthSky.org, and can cause the moon to appear brighter and larger, especially when it’s rising up along the horizon.
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These two full moons are the second and third supermoons to fall in a row this summer, to be followed by one more supermoon in September.
The August moon cycle was traditionally called the Sturgeon Moon because historically that was the time of year for catching these prehistoric fish, according to The Old Farmers Almanac.
Meanwhile, according to NASA, “blue moon” has been used since the 1940′s as a name for the second full moon in a calendar month. Blue moons are fairly rare, typically happening just once every two to three years.
For a little extra summer stargazing magic, this particular blue moon will be Earth’s closest full moon in 2023, and will share the sky with the tail end of the beloved annual Perseid meteor shower.
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