Sunday's glorious full moon with its distinctive and dramatic orange and red hues had Bolton Camera Club members reaching for their cameras.

Known as the blue moon, it glowed red and orange last night due to smoke from wildfires travelling across the Atlantic Ocean.

The picture above was taken by Bolton News Camera Club member John Hall.

Fires have been happening in North America (especially in Canada) with smoke from this travelling thousands of miles thanks to a split jet stream.

Keith RylanceKeith Rylance

A jet stream is a high altitude current of air that occurs when warmer air from the south meets cooler air from the north, and is responsible for much of the UK's climate, BBC News reports.

This makes the sky look more orange, BBC forecaster Grant Burleigh-Harvey says, as the smoke particles diffuse the sunlight.

Weather presenter Simon King said: "Did you see the full blue supermoon - not blue but red - last night?

"The sun was also pretty eerie at sunset too.

READ MORE: The 3 star signs most impacted by the blue supermoon

When and how to see the blue moon in the UK tonight

Marta Lazdovskaja 

"Smoke from North American wildfires is still sitting in the skies above the UK but clears today."

Sky News meteorologist Kirsty McCabe said: "You might have noticed the skies have been rather hazy this weekend, thanks to the jet stream bringing smoke from North America (mainly from Canadian wildfires) all the way across the Atlantic to our shores.

"Luckily because the smoke particles are so high up in our atmosphere they won't have an impact on our health, but they could enhance our sunsets and sunrises this weekend."

The unusual hues should continue until Monday evening (August 19) when more unsettled weather will begin to disperse the smoke in the upper atmosphere.

Excitement continues to build today as a breathtaking blue supermoon is due to illuminate the sky at dusk on Monday evening.

 

 Marta Lazdovskaja

 

A blue moon usually occurs every two or three years and tonight (August 19), Brits can look out for it in the night sky.

Royal Museums Greenwich (RMG) said: “Which of the 13 full moons is the blue moon is up for debate. Traditionally the definition of a blue moon is the third full Moon in an astronomical season containing four full moons.

“This is the most complicated definition for people using the standard calendar, as the astronomical seasons begin and end at the equinoxes and solstices (e.g. the winter season begins at the winter solstice and ends at the spring equinox, the spring season begins at the spring equinox and ends at the summer solstice and so on).”

The type of blue moon that will be visible tonight in the UK is a seasonal one – the third full Moon in an astronomical season containing four full moons.