On Aug. 30 2023, the second full moon of the month emerged in the sky with a larger appearance than usual. Although the term used is bluemoon, it does not actually turn blue or appear blue, unfortunately. This occurrence still had everyone outside looking up in awe of the sight of the blue supermoon, and even the sunset before. 

A junior from Centreville High School stated that “The sunset hadn’t been pretty in so long. You saw a different color everywhere you looked.” A student from journalism class agreed, “It was really beautiful, I liked the colors.” 

It is not extremely common for two full moons to fall within the same month, and a blue supermoon is even more uncommon. The next one is not expected to happen until 2037, so one could say that these occur once in a blue moon. The last regular blue moon occurred on Aug. 22, 2021, and the next one is predicted to be on Aug. 19, 2024. 

The name originates from the expression “The moon is blue” in the 16th century, and this particular phrase was used to describe something impossible. However, when a volcano erupted in Indonesia in 1883, people claimed to see the appearance of a blue moon for nearly two years after the event. This is how the term “once in a blue moon” came about, because it is something that is possible but rare. That is why scientists use the term blue moon for the second full moon of the month, because it is possible but uncommon. 

The term “supermoon” is used to describe a moon that is slightly bigger and brighter than usual, specifically for when the moon orbits closer to the earth. When this happens, the moon can look up to 14% bigger than normal, not very noticeable to the regular eye but still something worthy to take note of. On Aug. 30, the distance of the moon from Earth was 221,942 miles when it is regularly 238,855 miles away. 

Make sure you mark your calendars for August next year so you don’t miss the next blue moon!