The supermoon on January 1 is the second in a cycle of three supermoons which started on December 3 2017 and will end on January 31 where we will also experience a lunar total eclipse.

In the UK, the supermoon will peak in the night sky at around 2.24am between January 1 and January 2.

For those living in the western hemisphere you will be able to view the supermoon in the late evening hours of New Year’s Day (January 1), however for those in the eastern hemisphere viewers will have to wait until the following night on January 2 to view the supermoon. 

The Virtual Telescope livestream of the supermoon will kick start at 4.00pm GMT tonight (January 1), with commentary from astrophysicist Gianluca Masi. 

Tonight’s supermoon will be the closest full moon of 2018 - it will be 1000km closer to Earth than last December’s supermoon.

“The next full ‘supermoon’ will appear a bit more than 7% bigger and a bit brighter than an average full moon, but casual stargazers will not recognise this at their first glance,” Mr Masi, scientific director of the Virtual Telescope Project said.

“These differences are small, only experienced observers can possibly note them, but they add charm to the event, a precious opportunity to admire our natural satellite in the night sky context, an increasingly overlooked and forgotten landscape.”

The Virtual Telescope will show the New Year supermoon while it rises above the skyline of Rome, Italy.

There will be another livestream showing the supermoon on January 1 - the Slooh livestream.

The Slooh livestream will begin at 6pm PST and 9pm EST on January 1 in the US or 2am GMT in the UK on Tuesday January 2.

The livestream will last an hour and conclude at 7pm PST, 10pm EST and 3am GMT. 

Slooh said: “Slooh will be pointing its telescopes to capture the brightest moon of the year, the 2nd installment of the Supermoon Trilogy. Tune-in live as hosts Dr. Paige Godfrey and Helen Avery share this moment of wonder and inspire the audience to celebrate the New Year outdoors under a Full Supermoon."

The next supermoon will occur on January 31 and will be dubbed a Blue Moon as it will be the second of two full moons in one calendar month.

It will coincide with a total lunar eclipse as the Blue Moon will pass right through the Earth’s shadows to state a total eclipse of the moon during the nighttime hours on January 31.

Slooh added: “The total lunar eclipse will be visible from the western United States, the Pacific Ocean, Australia and parts of Asia.

“That moon just keeps on giving!”

Watch the Virtual Telescope livestream here.

Watch the Slooh livestream here.