Blue Supermoon to be visible in UAE skies on Thursday

The next one will not appear until 2026

A cable car moves towards the San Agustin neighborhood as the full sturgeon supermoon rises above Caracas. AP

The sturgeon supermoon rises over the Graves Lighthouse in Massachusetts Bay, about 15km east of Boston. AFP

Two women walk up a mountain on Spain's Gran Canaria with the sturgeon moon in the background. Reuters

The sturgeon moon rises through clouds over the skyline of lower Manhattan. AP

The sturgeon moon rises behind an old army tank in the occupied West Bank near the town of Jericho. AP

The supermoon rises behind a minaret of a mosque in Beirut. AP

The full sturgeon supermoon appears above Dubai Marina on August 1. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Supermoon in Dubai. Antonie Robertson / The National

The supermoon at Al Bahr Towers, Abu Dhabi. Khushnum Bhandari / The National

A commercial airline aircraft flies before the rising sturgeon supermoon above Kuwait City. AFP

The sturgeon supermoon rises above the Mount of the Olives in Jerusalem. AFP

A sturgeon supermoon rises behind the Liberty Monument in Nicosia, Cyprus. AFP

The supermoon rises above Johannesburg, South Africa. EPA

A sturgeon supermoon rises beside a McDonald's logo in Jalandhar, India. AFP

Supermoon in Sydney. EPA

The supermoon rising above Singapore. AFP

The sky is lit up over downtown Jakarta. AFP

Supermoon rises behind clouds as seen from Islamabad. AFP

The Moon over the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque in Istanbul. Reuters

The Moon rises behind the Parthenon in Athens. AP

The Moon in Jindayris, in Aleppo, Syria, a day before the sturgeon supermoon. AFP

A rare celestial event will be visible in the skies above the UAE on Thursday.

Called a Blue Supermoon, the phenomenon is when a second full moon appears within a calendar month.

This happens about every two years – earning it the description “once in a blue moon”. The next one will not be seen until May 31, 2026.

“It's not related to the moon's colour and happens roughly once every 2.7 years, making it a relatively rare event,” the Dubai Astronomy Group said.

The moon will be visible in the UAE from 7pm. It will be more prominent in areas away from light pollution.

The Dubai Astronomy Group is hosting a viewing event at Al Thuraya Astronomy Centre in Dubai's Al Mushrif Park, with tickets priced at Dh60.

This is not the first celestial event to take place this month. A Saturn opposition was visible on Sunday.

An opposition occurs when Saturn and the Sun are directly opposite in the night sky. The rare occurrence makes Saturn appear exceptionally bright, allowing its ring system and moons to be more visible.

Next week, a comet could also be visible in the UAE.

Comet Nishimura was seen for the first time by amateur Japanese astronomer Hideo Nishimura, using a standard digital camera, on August 11 and 12.

Little is known about the interstellar object, but it is expected to become brighter as it travels closer to the Sun.

Nasa said the comet may be visible next week without a telescope.