How to Take Advantage of the Black Supermoon for Optimal Stargazing
If you’re on your summer stargazing program, dust off your telescope: Black supermoons make the next two weekends perfect. Here’s what that means and how to make the most of those very dark nights.
What is the black supermoon?
Each lunar cycle has a new moon – the point at which the Sun and Moon are aligned so that the Sun and Earth are on opposite sides of the Moon. Usually there is one new moon every month, but sometimes our modern calendar is not fully synchronized with the lunar cycle, so sometimes there can be two new moons in one month. When this happens, the second new moon of the month is called the “black moon”. According to the Farmer’s Almanac , “black moon” is not an official astrological term, is not particularly well known, and is not associated with folkloric traditions associated with other colorful moons, such as blue moons or blood moons.
The upcoming black moon is also technically a supermoon, according to Travel and Leisure , because the moon will be near the closest point to Earth as it orbits the planet:
“It happens every month, so in theory the ‘supermoon’ happens once a month. This month, the Moon comes closest to Earth, while also being the new moon. Since the new moon is located almost directly between the Earth and the Sun, only the far side of the Moon is illuminated, so nothing is visible from the Earth. You will not see this kind of “supermoon”. “
What happens during a black supermoon?
Like other new moons, black supermoons will be mostly invisible to the naked eye because, as stated in the Farmer’s Almanac , “the moon is not illuminated by the sun and appears to disappear from the night sky.” In other words, without moonlight, the sky will be super-dark, so if it’s not cloudy the conditions will be ideal for stargazing.
When is the black supermoon?
It all depends on where you are. If you live in most of North America, the next black moon will be this Wednesday, July 31, 2019 at 11:12 pm ET. But if you’re in Primorye Canada, Europe, or anywhere else east of the Eastern Time Zone, the next black moon will happen on August 30, 2019.
What to look for during a black supermoon
According to Travel and Leisure , there is a 10-day period around the black supermoon when it will be darker than normal at night, making it easier to see things like galaxies, constellations and shooting stars. If you are in an area where a black supermoon occurs on Wednesday this week, now is the time to go out at night: the optimal nights for stargazing are from July 25 to August 3.
It just so happens that this summer is a particularly good time to see the Milky Way, because the Earth is now tilted towards it. The best way to see the arch of the Milky Way is to travel to as dark a place as possible – ideally, somewhere at least 40 miles from the nearest city – so the absence of the moon around will definitely help make it more visible. In this environment (and again, assuming no clouds), the Milky Way should be visible from around 10:00 PM. If you don’t see it right away, give your eyes time to adjust to the dark for at least 20 minutes. …
And if that wasn’t enough, it’s also a good time to see shooting stars thanks to the South Delta Aquarida meteor shower . Although about 15 shooting stars are expected every hour during the night, they should be quite bright and without all that moonlight, they will be even easier to spot.