2023-08-30 20:41:11
Astronomy fans are watching the last “super blue moon” before 2037 on Wednesday night, a rare phenomenon where the Moon is both at its closest level to Earth and directly opposite the Sun.
The Moon evolves at an average distance of 384,400 kilometers from Earth and is approximately 363,000 kilometers away, the closest point of its elliptical orbit to Earth, thus appearing 14% larger.
At the same time, the Moon is diametrically opposed to the sun early Thursday (01:36 a.m. Swiss time) to give birth to a “super blue Moon”, said NASA, which is organizing a live broadcast of the phenomenon on YouTube overnight with Italian astronomer Gianluca. Masi, while the star will be under the horizon of Rome.
Next “super blue moon” in 2037
The term “blue moon” refers to a second full moon in a month, a phenomenon that occurs on average every two and a half years. But the “super blue Moon”, they only appear every ten or twenty years, NASA said, adding that the last dates back to December 2009 and the next to March 2037.
During this phenomenon the star is not really blue. The expression “blue moon” is rather taken from the English “once in a blue moon” which designates a situation that occurs only very rarely.
If the 2023 “super blue moon” should delight budding astronomers and photographers, its gravitational power, linked to its proximity to Earth, causes higher tides, which might promote flooding on the Florida coast. hit by Hurricane Idalia.
>> Lire: Major flooding in Florida caused by Hurricane Idalia
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