Tonight’s full moon is a harvest moon, supermoon, and lunar eclipse all rolled into one.

If skies remain clear the spectacle should be visible across the UK.

What does this actually mean?

Lunar eclipse

A partial lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes between the sun and the moon, casting a shadow.

Tonight it is visible in the upper right corner of the moon: a small piece of the moon has disappeared; that is the shadow of the Earth.

To see the moon’s subtle shrinking over time, spend a few hours outside or check back several times a night, advises KaChun Yu, curator at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Supermoon

The partial lunar eclipse coincides with the second of four supermoons in as many months.

A supermoon This occurs when the full moon is closest to Earth during its orbit, making the moon appear larger than normal.

The best time to spot a supermoon is early evening, when it is near the horizon.

Then the star is at its largest and may appear slightly orange because of the moonlight shining through the Earth’s atmosphere.

The lunar eclipse will occur in the early morning hours of Wednesday, so be sure to check back later.

The next supermoon is on October 17 and the last one is on November 15.

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Harvest Moon

Unlike the supermoon and the eclipse, the Harvest Moon has less to do with appearance than with the time of year.

Throughout the year there are several moons with mystical names, such as the wolf moon in January or the manly moon in July. Their names all relate to what is happening in nature at that time.

The Harvest Moon usually falls in September and is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox.

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According to NASA, the moon gets its name from the fact that during a full moon you can hear wolves howling while other animals are hibernating.

The Deer Moon may have something to do with the time of year that male deer grow their antlers.

The moon is usually bright at this time of year, rising shortly after sunset. This gives farmers harvesting their crops more light to continue working into the evening. Hence the name ‘harvest moon’.