How To Watch Rare 'Black Moon' In The Night Sky Over India, And Why It's So Special

For all you astronomy buffs out there, you are all in for a treat. We're going to see something fairly rare, but very cool, take place in the night sky.

It's called a 'black moon' and it'll appear on either July 31 or August 1 depending on your location in the world.

NASA Goddard

Black moons take place about once every 32 months, and they're not always visible everywhere. Sometimes they only appear in specific time zones. It's the second new moon of the month, and also refers to a month where there are no new moons at all.

You might have some trouble actually spotting the black moon though, because it's almost invisible in the night sky.

While a full moon is when the Earth-facing side of the Moon is fully illuminated, a new moon is when the Earth-facing side is fully in shadow. We typically get each of these once a month. Now, the lunar cycle typically takes about 29 days to complete, but our months are slightly longer. So once every 32 months or so we get a second full moon or a second new moon. The former is called a Blue moon, the latter a Black moon.

This particular instance of the black moon will also see our satellite at its closest point to Earth, technically making this a black supermoon. Because it will blend in with the night sky though, you're really going to have to strain to spot it.

The weird thing in fact, is that the western hemisphere will see the black moon tonight. For those of us in the eastern hemisphere though, the event will technically be on August 1 post 12 am. So though you're seeing the same thing, India's black moon will officially be at the end of August.

The good thing is though, you'll get a second chance to spot this on August 30.