From the late hours of Sunday, August 18, 2024 to the morning hours of Monday, August 19, 2024 a supermoon blue moon could be seen across the night sky. This moon, which was called the Sturgeon moon, reached peak illumination on Monday and has been one of four supermoons seen in 2024. 2024 will have three more supermoons before the end of the year- The harvest moon on Tuesday, September 17, the hunter’s moon on Thursday, October 17, and lastly, the beaver moon on Friday, November 15. 

The name of the Sturgeon moon originates from the Lake Sturgeon, a giant freshwater fish found throughout North America in the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, and the Mississippi River Basin. 

A supermoon happens when a moon’s orbit is closest to the Earth at the same time that the moon is full. Therefore, the moon appears brighter and larger than a regular full moon.

You may wonder why it’s called a super blue moon because the video footage makes the moon appear orange or yellow. A seasonal blue moon is the third moon in a seasonal sequence of four full moons. The first two full moons happened on June 21 and July 21 which makes this moon the third this summer which makes it “blue.” The moon is not blue but can occasionally appear as blue because of tiny, atmospheric smoke and dust particles. However, the reason this moon appeared yellow or orange is because of haze created by summer heat and dry conditions in August. 

Footage of the August 18 Super Blue Moon