Back in the day, the appearance of two celestial wonders in just one month would be hailed as a bad omen of impending doom.
But apart from small matters like the possibility of imminent nuclear Armageddon, there’s nothing to worry about in 2018, is there?
Later this month, the world will be treated to the first lunar eclipse of a Blue Moon in 150 years.
This wonder of nature follows a New Year’s Day supermoon which appeared 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter in the sky on the first day of 2018.
Nasa said a ‘supermoon trilogy’ started on December 3 2017 and suggested the third moon will be the most beautiful of them all.
According to the US space agency, it will feature a total lunar eclipse ‘viewable from western North America across the Pacific to Eastern Asia’.
Nasa wrote: ‘The Moon will lose its brightness and take on an eerie, fainter-than-normal glow from the scant sunlight that makes its way through Earth’s atmosphere.
‘Often cast in a reddish hue because of the way the atmosphere bends the light, totally eclipsed Moons are sometimes called ‘blood moons’.
‘About twice each year, a full Moon lines up perfectly with the Earth and Sun such that Earth’s shadow totally blocks the Sun’s light, which would normally reflect off the Moon.’
‘We’re seeing all of the Earth’s sunrises and sunsets at that moment reflected from the surface of the Moon,’ added Sarah Noble, a scientist at Nasa.
Blue Moons happen every two-and-a-half years on average, so, with the total eclipse, it will be a royal spectacle – a ‘Super Blue Blood Moon’.
Supermoons happen when a full moon coincides with the moon’s perigee – a point in its orbit at when it is closest to Earth.
The last supermoon occurred on December 3, when the moon was 222,761 miles (358,499km) from Earth before another appeared on New Year’s Day 2018.
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METRO
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