A supermoon rises over the Longquan Mountain Observation Deck in Chengdu, China, on Monday. (Yang Qitian/VCG via Getty Images)
If the moon seemed extra bright Monday night, that's because it was — in fact, it was the biggest and brightest moon of the year.
The lunar spectacle was the product of two celestial events coming together: a blue moon, and a supermoon, a combined phenomenon that won't be seen again until 2037. A blue moon is a seasonal or monthly full moon, while a supermoon occurs when a full moon orbits closer to Earth than normal.
The blue supermoon is expected to be visible until Wednesday, so if you missed it Monday night, you still have chances to view it this week. Below are photos from Monday.
A supermoon rises over the Leifeng Pagoda in Hangzhou, China, on Monday. (Xu Yan/Zhejiang Daily Press Group/VCG via Getty Images)
The red glow of the supermoon, seen here at Parliament Hill in London, was attributed to smoke particles in the upper atmosphere from North American wildfires. (Toby Melville/Reuters)
A rare blue supermoon appears in the night sky over Sydney on Monday. (Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty Images)
A view of the first supermoon of the year at Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore. (Edgar Su/Reuters)
An aircraft passes in front of the moon, as seen from Parliament Hill in London. (Toby Melville/Reuters)
A supermoon rises behind the Galata Tower in Istanbul on Monday. (Khalil Hamra/Reuters)
The first supermoon of 2024 rising Monday evening in Yichang, China. (Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
A supermoon rises over the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia, Bulgaria. (Spasiyana Sergieva/Reuters)
A supermoon rises over a residential building in Moscow. (Pavel Bednyakov/AP)
Two women watch from the roof of the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology in Lisbon as a nearly full supermoon rises over the Tagus River. (Armando Franca/AP)
People at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles as the supermoon rises in the night sky. (Richard Vogel/AP)
The supermoon can be seen rising as Shiite pilgrims make their way to Karbala, Iraq, for a big public ritual called Arbaeen. (Hadi Mizban/AP)
A plane approaches for landing in Lisbon at sunrise on Tuesday, with a supermoon in the background. (Armando Franca/AP)
People gather to watch the supermoon, known as the blue moon and "Sturgeon Moon," in White Sands National Park near Alamogordo, N.M. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
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