{"id":705617,"date":"2026-05-31T04:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T04:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/705617\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T04:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T04:24:11","slug":"rare-lunar-event-to-light-up-aussie-sky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/705617\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare lunar event to light up Aussie sky"},"content":{"rendered":"

A rare lunar event is set to light up the sky this weekend, as a blue micromoon becomes visible on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

The event is not something skywatchers get to see very often, as it combines two astronomical phenomena, a blue moon and a micromoon.<\/p>\n

Laura Driessen, a postdoctoral researcher at the Sydney Institute for Astronomy, said it would be \u201cincredibly bright\u201d and visible anywhere in Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tens of thousands of times brighter than the brightest star in the night sky,\u201d she told SBS News.<\/p>\n

\"Super<\/p>\n

The event is not something skywatchers get to see very often as it combines two astronomical phenomena. Picture: David Crosling<\/p>\n

\"Super<\/p>\n

A blue moon occurs because the lunar cycle of the moon doesn\u2019t line up perfectly with our calendar. Picture: David Crosling<\/p>\n

A blue moon doesn\u2019t mean the moon will actually turn blue – rather it\u2019s the second full moon to appear in the sky in the month of May.<\/p>\n

This is because the lunar cycle of the moon doesn\u2019t line up perfectly with our calendar, which occasionally allows two full moons to appear in one month.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s blue moon also happens to coincide with a micromoon – when the moon is at its farthest from Earth.<\/p>\n

Micromoons can appear about 6 per cent smaller than an average full moon and over 12 per cent smaller than a super moon, according to Time and Date.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt one point in its orbit, the moon is closer to the Earth, and that closest point is called the perigee. And another point in its orbit, it\u2019s a little bit further away from Earth, and that\u2019s called the apogee,\u201d Ms Driessen told SBS News.<\/p>\n

\u201cA micromoon is when the full moon happens close to that apogee point. So the moon is just a touch farther away than it is in other parts of its orbit, so it looks a little bit smaller.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sunday\u2019s<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s blue moon also happens to coincide with a micromoon. Picture: Lachy Riley<\/p>\n

\"SuperBlue<\/p>\n

The best time to see the celestial event is anytime on Sunday May 31 when the sky is clear. Picture Glenn Hampson<\/p>\n

The best time to see the celestial event is anytime on Sunday (May 31) when the sky is clear and dark.<\/p>\n

In NSW, Queensland, Victoria, the ACT and Tasmania, the moon will reach peak fullness at 6.45pm AEST.<\/p>\n

In South Australia and the Northern Territory, the micromoon will peak at 6.15pm ACST and in Western Australia it will peak at 4.45pm AWST.<\/p>\n

If you look towards an open eastern horizon, the moon may glow golden-orange near the horizon at moonrise or after sunset.<\/p>\n

No telescope will be required to see the moon but binoculars may help make the moon\u2019s surface appear sharper.<\/p>\n

Ms Driessen said human eyes can\u2019t tell the difference in the size of the micromoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can only tell the difference if you have a photo of an average moon next to a photo of a micromoon,\u201d Ms Driessen told SBS News.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will look like a beautiful full moon to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next blue moon won\u2019t be until December 31, 2028.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rare lunar event is set to light up the sky this weekend, as a blue micromoon becomes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":705618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[343320,64,63,28901,343321,57832,343322,343323,128,285],"class_list":["post-705617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-astronomical-phenomena","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-blue-moon","tag-celestial-event","tag-full-moon","tag-lunar-event","tag-sbs-news","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}