A rare blue supermoon is set to light up the night sky: this is best time and place to see it

August will begin and end in an unusual way: with a full moon, and the second one is so unusual that it is known as a blue supermoon. They are only be seen every two or three years, and occur when there are two full moons in the same month. For this reason, the nickname 'blue' is added to indicate that it is the second full moon, but it has nothing to do with its colour. The next time this phenomenon will occur will be in 2026.

When can it best be seen in Spain? On the last night of the month, that is Thursday, 31 August. The supermoon will be visible from around 9.30pm on Wednesday and its peak will be at 3.36am on Thursday, Spanish time. It will remain visible in the sky until dawn. It will be much bigger and brighter than a conventional full moon.

For this reason, it will be quite easy to see although it is recommended to do so from places with little light pollution and it is not a bad idea to use binoculars to be able to appreciate this astronomical phenomenon in even more detail.

The full moon that could be seen on 1 August was christened the sturgeon moon. The names of the full moons are found in the Farmer's Almanac of the United States. This magazine has popularised the terms used by the Native American Indians to refer to the monthly full moons, which have become popular across the globe. This month's first moon was so named because it refers to the time of year when Native Americans fished for the species due to the good nighttime visibility provided by the light of this supermoon.