Best places to view the blue supermoon

Metservice says the eastern parts of both the North and South Islands are the best place to view tonight’s rare blue supermoon with clear skies forecast.

Other places like Auckland, Waikato, and the Bay of Plenty should get a good view too.

A blue supermoon is a rare lunar spectacle that won’t be seen again in New Zealand’s night skies for nearly a decade.

The display will be the biggest and brightest moon of any this year – and also the second super full moon to appear in a single calendar month.

Metservice forecaster Paul Ngamanu said cloud might hamper views in Gisborne and Wellington.

But south of Gisborne, on the eastern side of the North Island, like Hawke’s Bay and Wairapara should be good places to view the moon, Ngamanu said.

“There will be a few spots for the remainder of the western North Island that might see it, but there is going to be cloud around. Also in the Far North, the sky may clear later this evening up there.

“The north and the east of the South Island will be pretty good as well.”

Ngamanu said there was not a lot of wind around so viewing conditions will probably be pleasant.

“But clear skies do mean the temperature will drop off, so just dress up for that.”

While a blue moon occurs once every two to three years, one that coincides with a supermoon is rarer.

The last blue supermoon was in 2009, and the next wasn’t due until 2032.

A supermoon is when a full moon happens near the lunar body’s closest point to Earth in its orbit, making it appear brighter and larger than average.

“Supermoons look about 8 per cent bigger and about 16 per cent brighter than an average full moon,” Stardome astronomer Rob Davison has said.

“A blue supermoon is a lovely quirk of our calendar, which means we’re seeing two of these bigger and brighter moons in the same month.”