The Beaver moon, also known as the full frost moon, will appear 30% brighter and larger in the night sky this week
Beaver moon rising behind Gran Sasso dItalia picks is seen from LAquila, Italy, on November 7, 2022(Image: Lorenzo Di Cola/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Stargazers are in for a celestial spectacle this week as the largest supermoon of the year will grace Irish skies.
This lunar marvel happens when a full moon coincides with the moon’s closest approach to Earth during its elliptical orbit around our planet. Known as the Beaver Moon in November, the supermoon will shine 30% brighter in the night sky.
Astronomy Ireland has said that the Beaver Moon will be visible each night from Tuesday to Thursday this week, and it could even be the “brightest and biggest” in many years. The moon will technically reach its fullest at 1.19pm on Wednesday afternoon but will appear “full” for a day or two either side of this time, reports RSVP Live.
According to Astronomy Ireland, there will be “a number of chances to snap the moon in a hopefully clear sky” when the sun sets on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but it all hinges on the weather conditions. Met Eireann forecasts that Tuesday and Wednesday night will be cloudy and wet, but Thursday is expected to start “dry and clear at first” before rain and cloud move into the west and southwest overnight.
David Moore, editor of Astronomy Ireland, has invited stargazers to share any photos they capture of the supermoon for the chance to have their image featured in the magazine and archived in the National Library of Ireland. He stated: “As well as alerting all eight million people on this island to this wonderful supermoon rising on Wednesday evening, we are asking the general public to line up the moon with interesting objects or landscapes in the foreground and send their best snap to be published in Astronomy Ireland magazine, which will be archived in the National Library of Ireland for all time.
“Camera phones are now very powerful and capable of producing superb night sky photographs like this. We have received many camera phone Moon photographs and other celestial sights like 2024’s great Northern Lights displays in May and October of that year.
“As it is rising and low down, people can line up the supermoon with statues, landmarks, buildings, aircraft, birds, landscapes, mountains, standing stones, ships and seascapes and more to produce stunning photographs which we would be delighted to feature in the pages of Astronomy Ireland magazine.”
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