A “super blue moon” is when two different moon events happen at the same time: the full moon is both a supermoon and a blue moon.

Breaking down the term

  1. Supermoon
    • The Moon’s orbit around Earth is slightly oval (elliptical), so sometimes it’s closer (perigee) and sometimes farther (apogee).
 * When a full moon occurs while the Moon is at or near its closest point to Earth, it’s called a supermoon.

 * It looks a bit brighter and can appear up to around 14% larger in diameter compared with when it’s farthest away, though the difference is subtle to the eye.
  1. Blue moon
    • In modern usage, a blue moon usually means the second full moon in a single calendar month, which happens roughly every two to three years because the lunar cycle is about 29.5 days.
 * There is also an older definition: the third full moon in a season that has four full moons instead of the usual three.
  1. Super blue moon
    • When a full moon is both a supermoon (near perigee) and a blue moon (by either of the blue-moon definitions), that full moon is called a super blue moon.
 * Despite the name, the Moon does **not** actually turn blue in color; the term is about timing and orbital position, not color.

How often and what it looks like

  • Supermoons by themselves occur several times a year, but the overlap with a blue moon is rare, often roughly once a decade or so, which is why it gets extra attention and “latest news” coverage when it happens.
  • To the naked eye, a super blue moon looks like a very bright, full Moon, slightly larger than usual, especially when it’s low on the horizon where our brains exaggerate its size (the “moon illusion”).

Quick “forum-style” takeaway

In simple terms, a super blue moon is just a regular full moon that happens to be closer to Earth than usual and falls on a rare date in the calendar, so it gets a special name and a lot of online discussion.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.