A rare super blue moon appeared over Lancashire skies last night, Wednesday, and it is a phenomenon that will only happen once this year.
If you missed it we have some stunning pictures to share with you.
Unlike its name suggests, a blue moon is not named after the colour and instead refers to the second full moon in one calendar month.
Most months only have one full moon, so a second is quite a rare event, occurring approximately once every two or three years.
Trisha Hawke shared a picture of the moon over Accrington.
Steve Brayne took a fantastic snap of the moon over Darwen. In the picture, you can see the silhouette of a aeroplane flying past it.
Mandy Fletcher shared her snap, which she took on Wilpshire Road in Rishton.
Neil Mashiter shared a picture of the glowing moon over Darwen.
Further afield in Lancaster, Lee Mansfield shared a picture he took of the phenomenon over Ashton Memorial.
Astronomer professor Don Pollacco, department of physics, University of Warwick, said: “One of the flukes of nature is that the apparent size of the moon can be very similar to that of the sun.
“This occurs because, while the moon is much smaller than the sun, it is much closer to the Earth.”
Adding that the moon has and elliptical orbit around the Earth, he continued: “Now that we understand the moon’s orbit around the Earth we can talk about super moons.
“These occur when there is a full moon at the time when the moon is closest to the Earth.
“Consequently, the moon can look bigger (10-15 per cent) and brighter (25-30 per cent) than a normal full moon.”
Dr Greg Brown, astronomer at Royal Observatory Greenwich said: “August brings the joining of two rare events in astronomy: a blue moon and a supermoon.
“However, both events have somewhat complicated definitions, and none are universally accepted.
“The most common definition of a blue moon is that it is the second full moon in one calendar month.”
He added: “A supermoon, on the other hand, is a full moon that occurs when the moon is in the closest part of its orbit around the Earth, though exactly how close it needs to be to make it ‘super’ is up for debate.
“During this time, the moon will appear a little bigger and brighter than it normally does, though the difference is hard to spot by eye.”
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