The August Super, Sturgeon, Blue moon.

You may be hearing reports that the full moon today is not only a super moon, but a blue moon. But savvy amateur astronomers will notice that this isn’t the second full moon of the month which is usually what a blue moon is. That’s because this is a seasonal blue moon.

Because the cycle of the moon is around 29 days, not only will there be the occasional second full moon in a month, but about once every 2 1/2 years there will be a seasonal blue moon, which is when there is four full moons in a season.

This years seasonal blue moon was set up when the first full moon of the summer season happened on the first day of summer, June 21st. Because of this, and the slightly shorter than a month lunar cycle, summer will have four full moons to which the 3rd full moon of a season with four, has been named a seasonal blue moon.

Because the moon is at it’s closest distance to earth for the year on Wednesday, that also makes this supermoon the largest and brightest of the year as well.

And if that wasn’t enough craziness with moon naming, it’s also the sturgeon moon. Each months full moon has a name attributed to it based on events that happen seasonally around the time of the full moon. The sturgeon moon name was picked as this was the time of year when the sturgeon fish was most plentiful for Indians and settlers to catch for food.

Next months moon will be called the corn moon, or harvest moon and will also be considered a super moon as the moon will still be at one of its closest points to earth for the year.