It's a blue moon too: A supermoon rises tonight!

The year's third supermoon is set to loom large above us, and tonight's rise is extra-special because it is also a blue moon!

Sadly, the moon will not actually turn blue, instead the term refers to the second full moon to occur within the same month.

Our lunar companion's rise will peak at 02:35 am in the early hours of Thursday morning but the display will be on show throughout the cycle.

The occurrence of a blue moon itself is a rare phenomenon, occurring once every three years on average. The last blue moon we saw in the UK and Ireland rose on Halloween 2020.

According to the lunar cycle, a full moon occurs once every 29.5 days. Therefore, as all months (other than February) are longer than 29 days, it is possible that a second full moon would occur in a single month and is consequently called a blue moon.

A supermoon is much more common, this is the third of four this year, with the next set to rise in September.

A supermoon occurs when the full moon coincides with the perigee, this is the closest point to Earth in the Moon’s orbit.

As the Moon’s orbit is elliptical, the distance between it and us is always changing. Compared to a full moon at its apogee, its furthest point away, a supermoon is typically 30% brighter and 13% larger.

Most full moons are named, with these names coming from Native American tributes, although this is not the case with blue moons.

If you capture the super, blue moon tonight, we would love to see! Submit images by tapping the image icon in the app or use our dedicated uploader.