Rare blue supermoon lights up the sky at night

A blue moon is not named after its colour but for the timing of its full moons during the year

A rare blue supermoon left stargazers delighted when it lit up the sky on Monday night.
A blue moon is not named after the colour, but for the timing of full moons during the year. Blue moons usually occur every two or three years, but in 2018 there were two blue moons, only two months apart.
The next time there will be two blue moons in a year will be 2037.
The moon has also been called the green corn moon, the grain moon, and the red moon for the reddish colour it often takes on in the summer haze.
The supermoon means Earth’s satellite is closest to the planet.
During a supermoon, the moon appears up to 14 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter compared with when it is furthest away.
The term supermoon was coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979 as either a new or full Moon that occurs when the Moon is within 90 per cent of its closest approach to Earth.
It marked the first of four consecutive supermoons this year, with the full moons in September and October virtually tied for the closest of the year.
The blue supermoon came straight after smoke from wildfires in North America turned skies a spectacular red at sunset and sunrise across the UK over the weekend.
The rare phenomenon cast a backdrop of red, orange and crimson across famous landmarks, with small particles of ash and soot from a summer of American wildfires carried thousands of miles across the Atlantic by the jet stream. 
The reddish hues were caused after the particles were transported by narrow bands of strong wind in the upper levels of the atmosphere before diffusing with the sunlight.
A change in the weather dispersed the smoke on Monday, before the arrival of the rare blue supermoon.
The Moon, which usually maintains a 384,000km distance from Earth, will orbit 23,000km closer. 
The last blue supermoon occurred in August 2023, and Monday night’s appearance will be the last chance to see the combination for more than a decade. The next are due for January and March 2037, according to Nasa.