A blue supermoon lunar eclipse coming for the first time in 150 years

Mark the date, the blood moon or blue supermoon is coming in a rare lunar event which happens only every 150 years.

Three separate celestial events — a supermoon, a blue moon and a full lunar eclipse — will occur simultaneously on January 31.

Just weeks after 2018's first supermoon of January 1 and 2, this astronomical rarity of events is being called a super blue blood moon eclipse.

This particular blue moon will likely look red in some areas, because of the total lunar eclipse which can give the moon a red tinge, giving it the name blood moon.

This confluence of events has not happened since the second half of the 19th century. And January's blue moon will be followed by another blue moon in late March.

Following the two full moons occurring in January, the calendar month of February will have no full moon.

In March, however, there will be two full moons, with the blue moon on March 31.

The moon, which lies 385,000km away, guides life on Earth by creating its tidal rhythm and moderating the planet's axis and stabilising the climate.

NASA is encouraging people to use these rare lunar events as a chance to study the moon.

"The supermoons are a great opportunity for people to start looking at the moon, not just that once but every chance they have," said Noah Petro, a research scientist from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre.

MOON FOLKLORE

• A bright first moon promises rain and a bountiful harvest; a red-tinted moon means a dry year

• A growing moon and a flowing tide are lucky times to marry

• A halo around the moon predicts wet or stormy weather