Full 'Wolf Moon' to illuminate sky tonight

With buildings, trees and other objects used as a reference point, the moon can appear larger.

Full moons on January 1 and 31 will be followed by full moons on March 1 and March 31.

"It's because every 19 years the sun and moon match up again", said Bob Bonadurer, director of the Milwaukee Public Museum's Daniel M. Soref National Geographic Dome Theater & Planetarium. Upon hearing that a specifically selected moon comes with the prefix "super" attached, people rush outside to get a look and come away thinking that they have just witnessed something akin to a rare cosmic alignment.

2018's second and last supermoon will happen at the end of the month, on January 31, and it will be extra special because it will also feature a lunar eclipse. This confluence of factors makes the moon appear bigger and brighter in the night sky than commonly seen.

The astronomical term for a supermoon is "perigee syzygy". "Super moon" was originally coined by an astrologer more than 30 years ago. The next full moon is January 31st, which will be a blue moon because it's the second full moon in a calendar month. First, the Virtual Telescope Project by astrophysicist Gianluca Masi will host a free webcast of the full moon rising over Rome, Italy, at 11 a.m. EST (1600 GMT).

The moon will be bigger than an average full moon.it's closer.

The first supermoon of the year, or "wolf moon", happens when the moon becomes full on the same day it reaches its perigee. But not always. It happened in 1999 and 1961 and won't occur again until 2037 and 2094.

This will be the second full moon in a month, also called the Blue Moon.