UPDATE Wednesday 6.40am: The night sky captured the attention of Bendigo Advertiser readers on Tuesday night, when the “wolf moon” supermoon rose.
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The wolf moon – the name given to the first full moon of the year – was the second supermoon of three that will rise in quick succession.
The first of the three occurred in early December, and the next will be seen on January 31.
That one will also be a “blood moon” – so called because of the reddish hue it will take on as the result of a lunar eclipse – and a “blue moon”, the second full moon in a month.
Tuesday: The new year will bring the second event in what has been named the “supermoon trilogy”, with the “wolf moon” supermoon to brighten up the night sky on January 2.
The wolf moon is the biggest and brightest of the three supermoons to rise in quick succession this summer.
The moon was 99 per cent visible on Monday night, but will become a supermoon on Tuesday when it rises at 8.47pm.
The first supermoon occurred on December 3, when the “cold moon” rose.
The next – and the one that has astronomers most excited – will be seen on January 31, when the “blue moon blood moon” rises.
Read more: “Supermoon trilogy” continues with wolf moon
"If you can only catch one episode of the supermoon trilogy, catch the third one," a release from NASA said.
"It will be extra special."
The moon at the end of the month is known as a blue moon because it is the second full moon of the month.
The moon will also have a fainter-than-normal glow, thanks to a total lunar eclipse.
It takes the name ‘blood moon’ because of the often reddish hue it takes on as a result of the way the atmosphere bends the light.
A supermoon is the name given to a full moon that occurs near or at the time when the moon is at its closes point in orbit to Earth.
As a result, it appears bigger and brighter.