Supermoon tonight: Beginning of bumper lunar January begins with stunning, big moon

This is just the opener for a later Supermoon that will be even more spectacular

(AFP/Getty)

If you're heading out tonight, look up. And not for the last time this month.

The New Year's night sky is going to be lit up with a stunning supermoon, far bigger and brighter than it usually is. That's because our nearest neighbour's orbit isn't completely circular, so it moves closer and further away over time – and when it gets near, the stunning phenomenon of the supermoon can be seen.

And it's one to get used to. January is going to be a month of stunning moons, and the New Year supermoon is already the second in a row of three supermoons, after December's.

Later in the month will come the event that Nasa has called the "super blue blood moon". Super because it's so close and therefore big, blood because there'll also be a lunar eclipse, and blue because it's the second full moon of the month.

None of those events are all that rare. But the collision of them will make for an extra special sight, and is much more uncommon.

Indeed, supermoons have no real astronomical significance, and while uncommon aren't entirely rare. But they've entered into popular culture in recent years, and do have some important effects like particularly low or high tides.

What's more, the sight of one can still be incredibly exciting, especially when seen from the right angle. They can look huge and detailed, with the feeling that the whole night is lit up more than usual.

The world already got to see such a sight on 3 December, the first of the current run of three full moons that are all super. That made for some stunning pictures.

Although the moon will be full this time around on New Year's Day, the phenomenon is somewhat visible a day or so before and after. (If you were out for New Year's, or even if you weren't, you might have seen that the moon appeared much larger and brighter than normal.)

The first moon of January is sometimes referred to as the "Wolf Moon", according to the Old Farmer's Almanac. That's reportedly because it would often appear as wolves howled outside villages.