WIDESPREAD wet weather failed to dampen the hopes of stargazers keen to catch a glimpse of the blue moon above Scotland last night.
A blue moon, defined as the second full moon in a calendar month, rose last night for the first time since July 2015.
It was also a supermoon which meant the satellite appeared 14 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter as it reached its closest point to Earth.
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The best time to see the celestial event was around 6pm or after when “the supermoon was at its lowest point in the sky”.
But Dr Gregory Brown, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, said: “This coming full moon is unusual in that it is the second full moon of the month, when typically there is only one full moon per calendar month.
“Also, the full moon will be slightly larger than normal given that this is also a supermoon, so astrophotography will be more spectacular than normal.”
Last night’s lunar phase fits the calendar definition of “blue” because there was another full moon on January 2.
The last blue moon occurred on July 31 2015 and the next will be seen on March 31 this year.