An unmissable appointment, tonight, with the biggest full moon of the year : it will be the second of this month , a circumstance, the latter, which in the Anglo-Saxon tradition is referred to as the "Blue Moon" .
To make everything more special there is also the fact that the two Full Moons of this August are both Supermoons , because they occur at the minimum distance from the Earth: they therefore represent a rather rare double, considering that the last occurred in January of 2018 while the next one will be in January 2037.
The astrophysicist Gianluca Masi explains it: «At 3:37 on August 31st the moon will be full about nine hours after its passage to the perigee, or the minimum distance from the Earth: due to this overlap between the full Moon and passage to perigee, popularly defined as Supermoon, our satellite will appear about 7% larger and a little brighter than average», says Masi.
It is important to underline that of the four Supermoons visible this year, tonight's "will be the closest, therefore the largest, albeit marginally".
To better enjoy the show, which will be hosted in the constellation of Aquarius, the advice is to turn your eyes to the sky at sunset or at dawn. «During twilight - recalls Masi - the residual sunlight allows you to admire the terrestrial landscape while the full moon rises or falls on the horizon. At night, its light is very intense, almost dazzling, compared to the very discreet one of the landscape. At its rising or setting, the moon is projected behind buildings and elements of the landscape, generating the sensation that its disc is larger, but it is only an optical illusion, precisely due to the presence in the visual field of terms of comparison, drawn from the 'environment".
(Unioneonline/vl)
