Supermoon to be visible in Irish skies again tonight

This month's full moon, called the Hunter's Moon, is the third of four supermoons in 2024.

A supermoon occurs when the full moon coincides closely with the moon being at its closest point to Earth. The moon's orbit around Earth is not perfectly circular and this can result in the supermoon being 30pc brighter than other full moons.

"Officially the SuperMoon occurred exactly on Thursday afternoon, but the Moon looks 'Full' for one night either side of this so there is still time to get a SuperMoon snap on Friday evening," said David Moore, editor of Astronomy Ireland magazine.

"I was watching the supermoon last night and it really did seem extra bright as it almost hurt to look at the moon it was that bright.

"There is no danger from looking at a bright full moon, it's just we are not used to seeing something this bright in night-time skies," he said.

The full Hunter's Moon will rise from 6:35pm over Ireland just as the sun sets.

"People get very creative or highlight attractions and beauty spots when there is a SuperMoon rising and we want them to send their best photo to Astronomy Ireland magazine for a special feature we will be producing to document the closest SuperMoon of 2024. There have been 4 of them this year," said Mr Moore.

This October full moon is also always known as the Hunter's Moon - a term that comes from native American culture.

The celestial event is expected to be visible after sunset and will gradually get brighter throughout the night.

Daniel Brown, associate professor in astronomy at Nottingham Trent University, said: "The October full moon appears as the largest and brightest supermoon of the four this year, being 76km closer than last month's full moon.

"It is always exciting to notice changes in colour due to our atmosphere and explore the 'moon illusion' where the moon only seems to look huge given its proximity to the horizon, where there is context alongside buildings, trees and other features.

"If the moon is high in the sky and you don't have that context, it seems just a distant object and much smaller."

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 90pc of its closest approach to Earth.