Taiwan is expected to see a rare red supermoon on the night after the Mid-Autumn Festival. The Central Weather Bureau says the moon will look larger and brighter than usual on September 28, the final day of the three-day holiday weekend.
Supermoons occur when a full moon coincides with the time when it’s closest to the Earth in its orbit. NASA says the moon will appear larger on that day than it has on any other point in the last 17 years.
The connection to the Mid-Autumn festival is significant, because moon-gazing is a popular holiday activity. If you miss it this year, you’ll have to wait until 2024 before a sumpermoon coincides with the festival again.
NASA says that people in certain parts of the world will get an additional treat: they’ll be able to witness a lunar eclipse. That will be visible in North and South America, Europe, Africa, western Asia, and the eastern Pacific Ocean. However, it will not be visible in Taiwan and the rest of East Asia.