Global Courant
The term supermoon is used to describe a full moon during perigee. This is the closest point the moon reaches in its orbit around the Earth. It is for this reason that it is possible to see bigger and brighter.
The population will be able to appreciate this difference with the naked eye in the coming days of August 2023, since there are two dates on which the full moon can be seen.
The first supermoon will be seen at the beginning of the month: on Tuesday, August 1, at 8:31 p.m., it will be 7.1% larger and 15.6% brighter than normal.
The second date will be at the end of August. Spectators will be able to wait for the second star of the month on Thursday, August 31 at 3:33 p.m. In addition, the “blue moon” phenomenon occurs on that date, which usually occurs approximately every two and a half years.
What are the full moons of August 2023 called?
It comes as no surprise to many amateur astronomers that the two full moons in August are given special names. It usually happens on other occasions, such as the full moon in June 2023, which was known as the “Strawberry Moon” as it coincided with the characteristic harvests of this fruit.
This August 1st, the moon is called the “Sturgeon Moon”. The origin of the name dates back to ancient times, when Native Americans used to “fish for sturgeon”. With the brighter moon, they managed to catch more fish.
On the other hand, the second full moon of August, that of the 31st, is called the “harvest moon”. This is because it coincides with the harvest of the traditional crops.
