The first supermoon of 2016 also presents the first eclipse of the year, a total eclipse of the sun on March 8-9, 2016, visible from Indonesia and the Pacific.
There's typically just one each of the major moon phases each month. But March, 2016, has two last quarter moons. Will some label the second one "blue?"
From some places worldwide, the moon will cover Aldebaran for up to an hour. The rest of us get an awesome view of this bright star right next to the moon.
Bruce McClure served as lead writer for EarthSky's popular Tonight pages from 2004 to 2021, when he opted for a much-deserved retirement. He's a sundial aficionado, whose love for the heavens has taken him to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and sailing in the North Atlantic, where he earned his celestial navigation certificate through the School of Ocean Sailing and Navigation. He also wrote and hosted public astronomy programs and planetarium programs in and around his home in upstate New York.