Supermoon was quite a show, but the next one will be better

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, January 3, 2018

All around the world, people looked into the night sky on New Year’s Day.

The moon was calling.

It was big, bold and bright, what astronomy folks call a supermoon. NASA says a supermoon is a moon that is full when it is also at or near its closest point in its orbit around Earth.

This photo was taken from a sidewalk a few blocks from the Marysville Public Library shortly before 5 p.m. on Monday. This supermoon actually was part of a trilogy, following one Dec. 3 — and before the next one on Jan. 31.

“If you can only catch one episode of the supermoon trilogy, catch the third one,” NASA suggests. “It will be extra special.” It will feature a total lunar eclipse.

NASA said the moon will lose its brightness and take on an eerie, fainter-than-normal glow from the scant sunlight that makes its way through the Earth’s atmosphere. Often cast in a reddish hue because of the way the atmosphere bends the light, totally eclipsed moons are sometimes called “blood moons.”