By Dannielle Maguire

Topic: The Moon

Sun 31 May 2026 at 3:01pm

Tonight's full moon will be a rare event, but it won't look very different.

Tonight's full moon is a rare occasion.

It will be both a micromoon and a blue moon.

You won't see big changes when you look at the sky tonight.

What is a micromoon?

A micromoon is the opposite of a supermoon.

A micromoon happens when the full moon is at its farthest point from Earth.

The Moon is at its farthest point in its oval orbit.

This graphic from NASA shows how it works:

The Moon orbits in an oval path, not a perfect circle.

The Moon itself doesn't change, but a micromoon looks a bit smaller.

A supermoon looks a bit bigger.

It's hard to see the size difference, but it's noticeable in comparison pictures.

The picture is made of two photos taken by Soumyadeep Mukherjee months apart.

One photo is a supermoon from December 2021, and the other is a micromoon from May 2021.

Soumyadeep Mukherjee took photos of the Moon months apart in 2021.

Mr Mukherjee used the same camera and lens for both photos.

This ensured the size comparison between the two moons was the same.

He took both photos in Kolkata, India, where the weather can be cloudy.

Mr Mukherjee was nervous, but he got clear skies for both photos.

'Smallest' micromoon of the year

Tonight's full moon is getting attention because it's the smallest micromoon of the year.

The full moon will look a bit smaller and dimmer than usual.

Tonight's micromoon will be the farthest, smallest, and dimmest moon this year.

The Moon will be 406,368 kilometers from Earth tonight.

Rare pairing with a blue moon

Tonight's micromoon will also be a blue moon.

A blue moon is when there are two full moons in a calendar month.

Blue moons happen every two to three years.

It's rare for a blue moon to happen at the same time as a micromoon.

The next blue micromoon won't happen until 2053.

The last micromoon and blue moon was in October 2020.

Tonight's full moon is a 'last in a generation' event.

It's rare for a blue moon to coincide with a micromoon.

Will the Moon look blue?

No.

The 'blue' in 'blue moon' doesn't refer to the Moon's color.

The term 'blue moon' came from an article in the 1940s.

The term was used incorrectly and spread from there.

The Old Farmer's Almanac is an American magazine with weather forecasts and moon phases.

The Moon has looked blue before, like after a volcano eruption in 1883.

The volcano's clouds acted like a blue filter.

Sun 31 May 2026 at 3:01pm

Promotion

Practice Listening