Two supermoons are set to dazzle star gazers in August – with the first happening at the very start of the month.

A supermoon occurs when a full moon is almost at its closest point to Earth which then makes it appear considerably bigger and brighter than it ordinarily would.

People will catch sight of the first supermoon of the month on the evening of Tuesday, August 1, when the full Moon rises in the south east 222,159 miles away.

Its second appearance – on August 30 and into the early hours of August 31 – is calculated to be even closer at 222,043 miles away. Because that will be the second full Moon of the month, it is given the name Blue Moon.

How to see the supermoons?

If weather conditions are fair, August should always provide sky gazers with some of the best views of the supermoon, thanks to long summer evenings and the potential for clear skies.

While the weather has been somewhat unsettled over the past week the forecast for Tuesday so far looks a little better with less rain on the radar and clearer skies anticipated.

"Warm summer nights are the ideal time to watch the full moon rise in the eastern sky within minutes of sunset, and it happens twice in August," retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak told Sky News.

Providing there isn’t too much cloud, adds the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the full Moon will be an ‘unmistakable white orb’ that cannot be missed.

For those with small telescopes or a pair of binoculars, August’s supermoons also provide a good opportunity to take a more detailed look at the Moon’s surface. For budding photographers – it’s also the time of year for some good photos too if conditions remain good.

Seeing the Moon rise just after sunset or watching it set before sunrise, adds the Royal Observatory, will be an ‘impressive sight’ because it is at this stage - in the early evening or morning – that it often appears utterly enormous compared to any surrounding landscape.

This, experts explain, is thanks to an optical illusion because the brain doesn’t understand that the sky is a dome and so it falsely projects things near the horizon to appear larger than they actually are.