Prince George, B.C. – There could be some spectacular sights over the next couple of nights as the first of three supermoons of this summer occurs, officially, on Saturday.

Supermoons occur when the moon is closer to Earth in its normal orbit than on other dates.  A “moon illusion” makes the moon look larger when it is low-hanging near the horizon.  Supermoons aren’t that much of a rarity.  A spokesman for NASA says they occur every 13 months and 18 days.  He also says the phenomenon this weekend will best be seen at 4 o’clock Saturday morning.

One reason there could be “spectacular” glimpses of the moon is the fact there is so much smoke making its way into the Prince George airshed from the big forest fires burning in the region.  In the past, smoke from fires has resulted in the illusion of the moon taking on various colours, from yellows to orange and even red.  Of course there is also the possibility that the moon may not be visible at all should the onslaught of smoke increase in severity.

We have three supermoons coming in fairly rapid succession: the one tomorrow night (even though it will appear quite bright tonight), another on August 10th and the third on September 9th.