Rare super blue moon set to delight stargazers

A rare super blue moon will appear over the UK and Ireland on Thursday night, treating stargazers to a phenomenon that will only happen once this year.

Unlike its name suggests, a blue moon is not named after the colour and instead refers to the second full moon in one calendar month.

Most months only have one full moon, so a second is a quite a rare event, occurring approximately once every two or three years.

The moon appears larger than usual, and will rise at around 8pm (BST) on Thursday, setting at around 6am (BST) the following day.

The peak of the full moon – when the near side of it is completely lit up by the sun is at 2.35am (BST) on Friday morning.

However, those who might not be able to stay up into the early hours do not need to worry about the even, as experts say it will not look noticeably different during the night.

Instead, the best time to catch a glimpse is when your local conditions are best suited to a clear sky – low cloud cover, favourable weather, and no obstructions on the horizon – such as buildings or trees.