Super moon visible across Ireland on Wednesday

Ottoline Spearman

The second of four super moons in a row will be visible rising at sunset on Wednesday evening across Ireland.

A super moon occurs when the full moon is closest to earth in its elliptical orbit, which can lead to the full moon being 30 per cent brighter than when it is furthest away from the earth.

Another effect called the "moon illusion' can also make the full moon look bigger in the sky as it rises. To the naked eye, the moon will also look full on Tuesday and Thursday.

Astronomy Ireland is asking the public to take pictures of the moon for publication in their magazine, which will be archived in the National Library of Ireland.

"Camera phones are now very powerful and capable of producing superb night sky photographs like this. We have received many camera phone moon photographs and other celestial sights like 2024's great Northern Lights displays in May and October of that year," said David Moore, editor of Astronomy Ireland's magazine.

"As it is rising and low down, people can line up the supermoon with statues, landmarks, buildings, aircraft, birds, landscapes, mountains, standing stones, ships and seascapes to produce stunning photographs which we would be delighted to feature in the pages of Astronomy Ireland magazine."

The Moon is technically full on Wednesday afternoon at 1.19pm Irish time. But the Moon looks full to the naked eye a day or two either side of this time.

This full moon is also known as the beaver moon.

To submit a supermoon photo, visit Astronomy.ie and click on the contact page.