{"id":474420,"date":"2026-05-30T08:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T08:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/474420\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T08:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T08:19:08","slug":"rare-delight-for-stargazers-tonight-as-blue-moon-lights-up-the-sky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/474420\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare delight for stargazers tonight as blue moon lights up the sky"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Astronomy fans are in for a rare treat tonight, as the phenomenon known as the Blue Micro-Moon lights up the night sky.<\/p>\n<p>A blue moon is the name given to the second full moon to occur in a single calendar month, a relatively rare event that typically happens only once every two or three years.<\/p>\n<p>What makes this weekend\u2019s spectacle even more unusual is that it will also be a micromoon, meaning the moon will be at one of its most distant points from Earth and appear slightly smaller in the night sky.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-Super-blue-moon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1776726\"  \/>Blue Moon \u2013 ROBERT ATANASOVSKI\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>This rare celestial event occurs when two full moons fall within the same calendar month, a phenomenon that happens only every two to three years.<\/p>\n<p>This occurs when the <a href=\"https:\/\/extra.ie\/2023\/08\/30\/news\/super-blue-moon-ireland\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Moon <\/a>reaches its full phase, at the point in its orbit furthest from Earth. As a result, it will appear slightly smaller and dimmer than a typical full moon. <\/p>\n<p>Astronomers say the combination of a blue moon and a micromoon is exceptionally uncommon, with the next occurrence not expected for another 27 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Astronomy fans are in for a rare treat tonight, as the phenomenon known as the Blue Micro-Moon lights&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[61,60,82],"class_list":["post-474420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}