Egypt will witness an unforgettable astronomical event on Thursday with the coming of the Super Blue Moon, the third super moon this year.
It will be visible in the sky of Egypt and other countries at night at peak brightness.
Largest and brightest
This month’s super blue moon for the month of August will be the largest and brightest full moon for this year.
It will appear full for three days from Tuesday night to Friday morning. The moon will be closest to Earth at this time, making it appear huge.
The blue moon will be at its brighest on 3:37 am at Thursday morning, and it will show immediately after sunset on the same day, and will remain in the night sky all evening until sunrise.
According to NASA, the name of this event refers to the third full moon in a season with four full moons, and not necessarily the color.
The name of the moon is attributed to the saying “once in a blue moon”, reflecting its rarity.
An emerging definition provided by Sky & Telescope magazine in 1946 states that a blue moon indicates the second full moon in one month.
This phenomenon is repeated approximately every two years, because the moon phase cycle takes 29.5 days to complete, which means that completing all 12 lunar cycles takes 354 days and not 365.
Therefore every two and a half years or so, the 13th moon is completed during a calendar year, as explained by NASA.
The blue moon be the penultimate super moon of 2023, with the last one on September.
