As Storm Amy dies down London is set to experience the first supermoon of 2025. From early next week the night sky will be lit up by a reddish glow from the Harvest Moon shortly after sunset.
Hobby astronomers will be delighted by the prospect of it being the first of three supermoons to close out the year. The Harvest moon will rise in the UK at 6.20pm on Tuesday, October 7 which traditionally heralds the start of autumn, and remain visible for consecutive nights.
A supermoon occurs when the Moon is at or near its closest point to Earth on its orbit. It makes the full Moon appear up to 14 per bigger and 30 per cent brighter than a regular full moon at its furthest point from Earth.
It will be most visible in southern England due to relatively clear weather, while it will be harder to spot in the West Midlands and northern England due to rainy conditions.
The closeness to the September equinox - on September 21 when day and night are equal length - is behind the name Harvest Moon. In rural areas the bright early-evening moonlight lit the fields and allowed farmers to collect crops for longer.
There is a myth that the Harvest Moon is bigger and brighter than any other full Moons in the year, but BBC astronomer Pete Lawrence says this is incorrect. He believes this has come about due to the optical illusion that makes the Moon look bigger when it's lower down the horizon.
The Harvest Moon will rise shortly before sunset at 6.20pm on Tuesday, October 7. Supermoons are typically visible for about three nights.
It will appear larger on the horizon (due to the previously mentioned optical illusion) and exhibit a reddish-orange glow. This is because the Sun's light travels through a longer portion of the Earth's atmosphere when the Moon is low in the sky, the BBC reports.
The atmosphere scatters away more short-wave blue light, leaving the longer-wave reddish hues to project upon the Moon.
Other things to look out for in the night sky in October include the constellation of Cetus when looking south. This gets its name from the whale in ancient mythology slain by Perseus.
It's visible to the naked eye at its brightest, but at time you might need a telescope to see it. On October 22 look out for the Orionid meteor shower which will see dust particles from Halley's Comet collide with the upper atmosphere and burn up.
You can expect to see up to 15 meteors per hour.