Super Blue Moon: Bay Area night sky lit up by lunar spectacle

If you didn't see the moon Monday night, it might be worth a walk outside Tuesday night.

We are in the midst of a super blue moon, a larger-than-normal full moon. The actual peak was during the daytime hours Monday but experts say this will last until Wednesday morning.

"It's much bigger than I thought it would be," said Rob Allegar who was watching in Sausalito.

"It doesn't look like the moon," said Shannon Lantzy.

VIDEO: Northern Lights seen over CA Sunday night, and may soon be visible again

Sunday night, the aurora borealis were visible across the Northern Hemisphere including areas of California.

A super blue moon is a version of a full moon. We recorded the above video along the San Francisco Bay in Sausalito and San Francisco.

"A full moon is always impressive and when that moon is maybe a little bit bigger that just adds to the excitement," said Stanford research scientist Dan Wilkins.

While it may be called a super "blue" moon, that does not mean it appears blue. It means a supermoon experience will coincide with a blue moon experience. The Moon is closer than usual to Earth.

"It appears about 14 percent larger when it's near perigee so it looks bigger in the sky and that's what we call a supermoon," said Chabot Space and Science Center's Gerald McKeegan. "Every once in a while, every two years and seven months roughly you get four full moons during a season. When that happens the third of the fourth full moons is called a blue moon."

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Experts say that this sort of thing is much more common than the Northern Lights that have recently been visible from around California.

"Whenever people ask me how they can get started with star gazing one of the things I will always say, it sounds really simple, is start looking at the moon, " said Wilkins. "It is so beautiful and there is so much to look at."

If you missed Monday night's moon, you'll likely be able to see a similar shot come Tuesday night.

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