The first of two full moons in March will be visible Thursday night.
More than a month has passed since the last full moon was visible from Earth. On Thursday evening, the full moon will be high in the sky after a break during the month of February.
The last full moon happened on January 31 and was quite spectacular—not only was the moon full, but it was a “supermoon” and there was a lunar eclipse. The confluence of these lunar events earned the name “super blue blood moon.”
This month’s full moon will appeal at its usual level of brightness as well as apparent size in the sky. However, there will be two full moons in March. There were also two supermoons, or perigean full moons, that occurred before the late January moon.
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The first full moon of March will occur Thursday while the second won’t happen until March 31, after the spring equinox that’s set to happen on March 20.
Thursday night’s moon, or the first full moon in March, is sometimes referred to as the “full worm moon,” according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Native Americans gave the moon this name because the full moon for the month of March signals that the Earth is beginning to thaw from the winter and earthworms begin to come out of the ground. The moon is sometimes also called the “full sap moon” because it happens around the time that sap begins to flow.
Thursday night’s full moon is set to reach 100 percent illumination at 7:51 p.m. ET and should rise about two hours earlier.
The second full moon of the month doesn’t have a specific name because it doesn’t usually occur but the term usually used to describe any second full moon in a month is “blue moon.” But the moon won’t appear blue—for the moon to actually appear blue, there would need to be some sort of particle, like ash, in the atmosphere that caused the light to filter, according to NASA.
This full moon will reach peak fullness at 8:36 a.m. ET on March 31, so those who live where it will be light out at that time might have to wake up before sunrise to see the nearly full blue moon.
