If you look at the sky Wednesday, you might think something’s wrong. The moon seems off. And you’d be right. Monday night alongside being a super moon is a blue moon. But to have these things come together in one night is a pretty rare occurrence.
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00:00 You've likely heard the phrase "once in a blue moon," but do you know the origins of it?
00:05 23 ABC's Sam Hoyle takes a look at the meaning behind it, and what it means tonight as we have a chance to catch a glimpse at the rare sight.
00:13 If you're to look up into the night sky tonight, you might think something's wrong. The moon seems off, and you'd be right.
00:19 Tonight, alongside being a supermoon, it's also a blue moon.
00:22 But to have all of these things come together during one occurrence is pretty rare.
00:26 Don't believe me? Let's ask NASA.
00:28 I mean, the next time it's going to happen is, what, 2037?
00:31 And it hasn't happened for, oh, I don't know, a number of years now.
00:36 So it's not something that happens every year, every three years, every five years.
00:41 So it happens in sort of, you know, in a decadal type timeframe.
00:47 Noah Pentrow is an Artemis 3 project scientist for NASA.
00:50 But back here for a second.
00:52 Just because it is a blue moon doesn't mean the moon is actually going to be blue.
00:56 Here, let me explain.
00:58 The name signifies an occurrence that happens when you have two full moons within a one-month span.
01:02 And this is also the closest moon will be to the Earth while being a full moon this year,
01:07 earning it the illustrious title of supermoon, meaning it will also appear about 15 percent larger than usual in the night sky.
01:13 And about 30 percent brighter as well.
01:15 And that's where maybe people might notice the difference.
01:18 That difference in size can be very hard to see.
01:20 You're not used to looking at the moon if you're not photographing the moon.
01:22 Full moons and new moons have plenty of spiritual and cultural meanings all over the globe.
01:26 But I want you to think back to a day where your main concern was, well, I got to turn on the monkey bars.
01:30 If you dig back there, you might remember your second grade teacher teaching you that the moon has the ability to affect tides.
01:36 The important part when we're looking at tides is what phase the moon is in.
01:40 So there's things called spring tides and there's things called meek tides.
01:44 So twice a month we have stronger tides across the globe.
01:47 So that's when we have full moons or completely new moons.
01:51 So twice a month we have these kind of larger tidal poles because the moon and the sun are starting to work together.
01:58 And while you might not have a spiritual or cultural connection to the moon, there's a human connection to it for us all.
02:04 You in Bakersfield, California, will go out tonight and look at the same moon that I'll look at.
02:08 And it's the same moon that, you know, my coworkers who are in Germany right now we're looking at.
02:13 It's the same moon that people all around the world look at.
02:16 In Bakersfield, Sam Hoyle, 23 ABC News, connecting you.