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Supermoon and Blood Moon 2015: UK weather nearly perfect as moon moves towards incredibly rare lunar events

The moon will be at both its darkest and brightest during the night – and the conditions are perfect for people to see it

Andrew Griffin
Saturday 26 September 2015 16:06 BST
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Stargazers from around the globe came out in full force to witness the phenomenon
Stargazers from around the globe came out in full force to witness the phenomenon (Alisha Aspeland/ Instagram )

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The evening of 27 September is going to be one of the Moon’s most stunning nights in decades. And the weather is making way for most people in the UK to see it, according to forecasts.

That night and into the next morning will see a huge bright Supermoon, much bigger and brighter than its usual size. Then during the morning the moon will go dark again, as it is turned red and becomes a “blood moon” during the total lunar eclipse.

The two events will mean that the moon is at both its brightest and its darkest during the night. They haven’t appeared at once for 30 years – and some are worried that events could signal the end of the world, but Nasa has said that they probably won’t.

The sky should be mostly clear through the night, for much of the UK as well as the rest of Western Europe.

Visibility will get better the further south the events are viewed from. In the north of Scotland, in particular, cloud cover is likely to be high.

But there should be no place in the UK where the cloud cover is so thick that it will block out the moon entirely. So some part of the blood red Supermoon should be visible to everyone.

Watch the video below for Nasa's explanation of why the spectacle happens:

NASA: Supermoon Lunar Eclipse

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