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August 2023 will be a marvelous month for a moon watch, two times over. In fact, you may have already missed the first one, which happened last night.
But not only does August have two full moons, it has two supermoons—full moons that appear bigger than usual because they occur when the moon is closest to Earth during its orbit around us.
- August 1: Last night's moon was the sturgeon moon, so named because this has traditionally been the time of year when sturgeon were caught in the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac.
- August 30: The second supermoon will be visible to US viewers the night of the 30th, with its peak coming at 6:36pm PT. This one is a blue moon, a term that refers to a second full moon in a month. But it's also a much rarer blue supermoon. The last one happened in 2009, and the next one after this month won't happen until 2032, per NPR.
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