{"id":670806,"date":"2026-05-28T21:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T21:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/670806\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T21:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T21:08:09","slug":"a-rare-blue-micromoon-is-coming-heres-when-you-can-see-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/670806\/","title":{"rendered":"A rare blue micromoon is coming. Here\u2019s when you can see it"},"content":{"rendered":"

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Get set for a rare blue micromoon<\/a> this weekend \u2014 a blue moon that\u2019s also the most distant and smallest-looking full moon<\/a> of the year.<\/p>\n

The full moon<\/a> will look slightly smaller and dimmer on Saturday night. But the change may be tricky to spot with the naked eye. <\/p>\n

The blue moon will occur Sunday.<\/p>\n

A bonus: The brilliant star Antares will photobomb Sunday\u2019s spectacle for a celestial three-for-one.<\/p>\n

A blue moon<\/a> occurs every two to three years when a second full moon squeezes into a single month. May 1 saw this month\u2019s first full moon.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe full moon rises behind the buildings of the banking district in Frankfurt, Germany, Friday, May 1, 2026.(Michael Probst | AP Photo\/Michael Probst)<\/p>\n

Since the moon\u2019s orbit isn\u2019t a perfect circle, the upcoming full moon will be farther from Earth than usual at a distance of 252,360 miles, making it seem a bit smaller and dimmer. It\u2019s the opposite of a supermoon<\/a> when a full moon comes closer to us than normal. The most recent supermoon, for instance, was just 225,130 miles (362,312 kilometers) away.<\/p>\n

The Virtual Telescope Project\u2019s Gianluca Masi, who will provide a live webcast from Italy, said Sunday\u2019s micromoon will appear about 6% smaller and 10% dimmer than that of an average full moon \u2014 \u201cdifferences that are subtle enough to likely go unnoticed by most observers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scene will be especially thrilling south of the equator across the Pacific.<\/p>\n

For stargazers in Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, eastern Australia, parts of Antarctica and a smattering of other islands, Antares will vanish temporarily as the blue micromoon passes in front of it.<\/p>\n

The red supergiant star, 550 light-years away, is known as the \u201cheart of scorpion\u201d in the constellation Scorpius. A light-year is almost 6 trillion miles (9.7 trillion kilometers).<\/p>\n

There won\u2019t be any disappearing act for those looking up elsewhere in the world, with Antares constantly visible alongside the full moon.<\/p>\n

And despite the name, this blue moon won\u2019t appear turquoise, sapphire or any other shade. The term simply refers to the uncommon occurrence of two full moons in one month.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Get set for a rare blue micromoon this weekend \u2014 a blue moon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[292693,2935,290843,79,193,34601,292695,292694],"class_list":["post-670806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-antares","tag-full-moon","tag-micromoon","tag-science","tag-space","tag-supermoon","tag-when-can-i-see-the-next-supermoon","tag-when-is-the-supermoon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}