Some people even suggest the term once in a Blue Moon is based on these rare occasions, rather than the Full Moon definitions above. Today, it has become part of modern folklore. Wondering when the next blue moon will occur? There’s another definition for Blue Moon. The New Moon also has important cultural and religious significance worldwide. Mark your calendar. The next time is in 2048 while the previous time was in 1934. Enjoying EarthSky so far? The next Blue Moon will come on October 31, 2020. Generally, a blue moon only occurs about every 2 and a half years. In many Northern Hemisphere cultures, each month's Full Moon is named after a specific seasonal or natural phenomena, for example, Harvest Moon. The next seasonal Blue Moon will occur on August 22, 2021, as the third full Moon in a series of four within that season. The solstices, referred to as the longest or shortest day of the year, means the amount of daylight for that day. Someday, you might see a true blue-colored moon in the sky. The term Blue Moon has over time become a placeholder name for the extra Full Moon. When this happens, the third Full Moon is called a Blue Moon. This definition is less commonly used for the blue moon. 2018 was also an interesting year because February did not have a full moon (sometimes called a black moon). The idea of a Blue Moon as the second full moon in a month stemmed from the March 1946 issue of Sky and Telescope magazine, which contained an article called Once in a Blue Moon by James Hugh Pruett. So, this was a rare opportunity to see a red Blue Moon. The dates and times are provided by NASA in Eastern Standard Time (EST) with Daylight Saving Time (DST) for part of the year. This happens every two to three years, so these sorts of Blue Moons come about that often. There are 4 calendar blue moons coming up between now and 2027 along with 3 seasonal blue moons. The 3rd primary phase of the Moon, the Full Moon is the moment its entire disk is illuminated by the Sun's rays. Most Blue Moons you hear about are Blue in name only. A Halloween Full Moon occurs for any one location about every 19 years, or once about every two decades. Possible to have only 2 full moons in a single season? In the 1100 years between 1550 and 2650, there are 408 seasonal Blue Moons and 456 monthly Blue Moons. Desert Blue Moon from our friend Priya Kumar in Oman, August 2012. It’ll be called a Blue Moon because it’ll be the second of two full moons in a single calendar month. St. Helens in the US (1980), and Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines (1991) are all known to have made the moon look blue. Blue-colored moons in photos – like the ones on this page – are usually made using special blue camera filters or in a post-processing program such as PhotoShop. :) “. In the late 1970s, EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd happened upon a copy of this old 1946 issue of Sky and Telescope in the stacks of the Peridier Library at the University of Texas Astronomy Department. A totally eclipsed Moon usually looks red, and because of this coloring, it is sometimes called a Blood Moon. For this to happen, you need 13 full moons between successive December solstices for a seasonal Blue Moon – and, generally, 13 full moons in one calendar year for a monthly Blue Moon. You will also find Full Moon names for the Northern Hemisphere. Consider yourself warned! Greg Hogan got this shot of a Blue Moon (blue in name only!) Danny Paez. The Full Moon can look red if other sizes of dust particles fill the atmosphere or during Total Lunar Eclipses, which are much more common than Moons that look blue. If this wasn't enough, it was also almost a Supermoon, earning it the nickname Super Blue Blood Moon. The next seasonal Blue Moon will be August 22, 2021. Triple Blue Moons, a combination of one seasonal and two monthly Blue Moons in the same calendar year, happens 21 times in the same time span. You generally need 13 full moons in one calendar year to have two full moons in one calendar month. Then 19 years later, in the year 2067, there will be a monthly Blue Moon on March 30, and a seasonal Blue Moon on November 20. The Full Moon names we use today often reflect nature like Harvest Moon. Eruptions like the ones on Mt. Later, this definition of Blue Moon was also popularized by a book for children by Margot McLoon-Basta and Alice Siegel, called Kids’ World Almanac of Records and Facts, published in New York by World Almanac Publications in 1985. Read More…, « Full Moon November Calendar for 2020, The Beaver Moon. He wrote: Seven times in 19 years there were – and still are – 13 full moons in a year. This is known as Mie scattering and can happen for instance after a dust storm, a forest fire, or a volcanic eruption. However, that fortuitous oversight gave birth to a new and perfectly understandable definition for Blue Moon. Orionid meteors likely peak the morning of October 21, For more about truly blue-colored moons, click here. This great moon photo is from EarthSky Facebook friend Rebecca Lacey in Cambridge, Idaho. A year has 12 months, of course. on July 31, 2015. Between 1550 and 2650 there are 20 years that have one seasonal and one monthly Blue Moon. When these particles are present in our air, and the moon shines through them, the moon may appear blue in color. What we call a season – winter, spring, summer, fall – typically lasts three months, and typically has three full moons. The second-full-moon-in-a-month definition was also used in the board game Trivial Pursuit. Very rarely, a seasonal Blue Moon (third of four full moons in one season) and a monthly Blue Moon (second of two full moons in one calendar month) can occur in the same calendar year. Krakatoa in Indonesia (1883), El Chichon in Mexico (1983), on Mt. Dates above are based on the local time in Antwerp. Particles of this size are very efficient at scattering red light. This scattering causes the sky to look blue in the daytime and red at sunrise and sunset. Blue moons did not occur in 2010, 2011, 2015, or 2017. Why you ask? Consider yourself warned! It’s only Blue in name. The dates and times are provided by NASA in Eastern Standard Time (EST) with Daylight Saving Time (DST) for part of the year. But folklore has defined two different kinds of Blue Moons, and moons that are Blue by name are pretty common. The time between one full moon and the next is close to the length of a calendar month. For more about truly blue-colored moons, click here. It’s very rare that you would see a moon that’s actually blue in color. Look up local times for Moon Phases along with information about lunations, Supermoons, Micromoons, and Black Moons. Topics: Astronomy, Moon, Calendar, Months, Blue Moons can vary by time zone. When Is the Next Blue Moon? This gives 11 months with one full moon each and one with two. Most Blue Moons are not blue in color. Privacy & Terms, January 31, 2018 (UTC), there was a total lunar eclipse. The seasonal Blue Moon is the original astronomical definition of a Blue Moon. The Moon, full or any other phase, can appear blue when the atmosphere is filled with dust or smoke particles of a certain size: slightly wider than 900 nm. Also known as false dawn, zodiacal lights are rare optical phenomena that occur around sunset and sunrise in early spring and late fall. If a season has four full moons, then the third full moon may be called a Blue Moon, according to the old Maine Farmer’s Almanac. Hello and welcome to FullMoonology, a blog dedicated to the full moon. The spring equinox is usually March 19th or 20th each year and the summer solstice is around June 20th or 21st. There are 4 calendar blue moons coming up between now and 2027 along with 3 seasonal blue moons. Why you ask? Most months have one full Moon, not two. Hello and welcome to FullMoonology, a blog dedicated to the full moon. But – as the second full moon in a month – many will call it a Blue Moon. The next is in 2143, while the last time was in 1961. It’s an older definition for Blue Moons, stemming from old skylore. It’ll be called a Blue Moon because it’ll be the 2nd of 2 full moons in a single calendar month. The next blue moon in 2020 on Saturday October 31, 2020 at 9:49 Eastern Time, just in time for Halloween. A seasonal blue moon the third blue moon in an astronomical season when 4 full moons occur within the season (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter). Dust particles can make the Moon look blue. There can never be a double seasonal Blue Moon, as that would require 14 Full Moons in the same year, which is not possible because the time between two Full Moons is approximately 29.5 days. The first full moon of that month, by the way, will fall on October 1-2, 2020. According to this definition the next Blue Moon will occur on January 31, 2018. He also writes and hosts public astronomy programs and planetarium programs in and around his home in upstate New York. Astronomical seasons begin with the solstices and equinoxes each year. A Moon that actually looks blue, however, is a very rare sight. On the night of the Blue Moon on January 31, 2018 (UTC), there was a total lunar eclipse. 2018 was an unusual blue moon year because two blue moons occurred at the start of the year, in January and March. When there are two Full Moons in a month, the second one doesn't have a proper name. Full Moon Calendars for 1990 through 2050. A lunar month – the time between two Full Moons – is around 29.5 days long, while most calendar months are longer. In recent years, people have been using the name Blue Moon for these two different sorts of moons: second of two full moons in a calendar month, or third of four full moons in a single season. 4.1.2018 7:00 AM. The calculation of the dates for monthly Blue Moons is based on the 12 12 months in our calendar rather than astronomical seasons. The next Blue Moon will come on October 31, 2020 and will be called a Blue Moon. There are two definitions of a Blue Moon; both are a type of Full Moon and have nothing to do with color. As the folklorist Philip Hiscock wrote in his comprehensive article Once in a Blue Moon: ‘Old folklore’ it is not, but real folklore it is. We typically refer to a blue moon as two full moons occurring in the same month. The next one will be October 31, 2020. In modern times, most of us know Blue Moons as the second full moon of a calendar month. Because I've been fascinated with the full moon for years and knowing when one is coming up helps explain the odd things that usually happens. It’ll be called a Blue Moon because it’ll be the second of two full moons to occur in a single calendar month. As a result, February did not have a full moon at all. In the 1100 years between 1550 and 2650, there are 408 seasonal Blue Moons and 456 monthly Blue Moons. The last blue moon occurred on May 18, 2019 at 17:11 Eastern Time. It can be the third of four full moons in a single season, with a season being between a solstice and equinox. In 2018, there were two Full Moons in January and March in most time zones. Bruce McClure has served as lead writer for EarthSky's popular Tonight pages since 2004. The reason the second definition of Blue Moon exists is due to an error originally made by amateur astronomer James Hugh Pruett (1886–1955). A similar phenomenon is Rayleigh scattering, which occurs when light strikes a molecule of air. The term once in a Blue Moon suggests something happens very rarely. Today, it is considered a second definition rather than a mistake. A Full Moon occurs roughly every 29.5 days and on the rare occasion when the Full Moon falls at the very beginning of a month there is a good chance a Blue Moon will occur at the end of the month. Bottom line: A blue-colored moon is rare.

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