South African lunar events in 2021

La Luna will be busy in the night sky again in 2021, with some interesting celestial events to watch out for.

From Super Full Moons to a Blue Moon in August.

Time and Date released a list of lunar events visible in South Africa’s skies – weather dependent of course.

For the first three months of the year there won’t be anything out of the ordinary.

On April 27, there will be a Super Full Moon. A super full moon takes place when the moon is at its closest to Earth. The moon appears noticeably bigger and brighter, due to it being so close. This point is called perigee.

The following month, on May 11, there will be a Micro New Moon. A micro moon, mini-moon, or mini new moon is when a new moon is close to the furthest place point from Earth. This point is called apogee. A micro full moon appears smaller and less bright than normal.

On May 26 there will be another Super Full Moon.

Lunar events stop until August 22, when a Blue Moon will light up the sky. This rare lunar event has two instances. The first is the seasonal Blue Moon, which is the third full moon in an astronomical season with four full moons. The second instance, is when there are two full moons in a month, where the second full moon is the blue moon. This Blue Moon will be the former of the two events. Interestingly, October 2020 saw a Blue Moon where there were two full moons in the month.

September and October will be uneventful and November 4 will bring us a Super New Moon. Similar to the super full moon, a super new moon occurs when the new moon is on the closest point to the Earth. On November 19 there will be Micro Full Moon. A Micro Moon occurs when a Full Moon or a New Moon coincides with apogee.

In the last month of the year, there will be two lunar events. On December 4 we will see a Super New Moon and on December 19 there will be a Micro Full Moon.

Picture: Unsplash

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