Super Blue Moon Ascends over UMass Amherst

Three years of planning, a failed attempt, and lots of exploring to find a location where a view of UMass with the moonrise visible ended on August 30th, 2023 when I captured this photo of the super blue moon rising over the 26-story W.E.B. Du Bois Library. In a last-minute change due to weather, I cancelled my original plans of capturing this moon over the Statue of Liberty, and decided to re-try my long awaited shot over UMass. As sunset approached, the clouds along the horizon didn’t look promising, but sure enough, the clouds started to glow a pinkish orange and the moon became visible. A super blue moon occurs when there is a second full moon in the same month and the moon is closest in it’s orbit to the earth.