It’s the second full moon in a single month, and its name comes from the saying that something that happens once in a blue moon is so rare it happens only every blue moon. But what’s the reason behind this? How rare are blue moons? Do they even happen on their own schedule? We’re going to answer all of your questions about the mysterious blue moon phenomenon here at Bright Hub Education!
What Is The Blue Moon?
Most people have heard of a blue moon, but not many know exactly what it is. So what is a blue moon you ask? Well, according to science and astronomy experts, a blue moon refers to an extra full moon which appears during one calendar month. During normal months, there are two full moons that appear in any given lunar cycle. The second full moon occurs approximately 29 days after the first full moon. A blue moon occurs when both these months happen within a 30-day span. This means that once every three years or so, there will be two full moons in one calendar month. That’s why they call it a blue moon!
Why Do We Have Full Moons?
The moon rotates once every 29.5 days, which is why we don’t get two full moons in a month. The reason we have blue moons are because of leap years. A year can be either 365 or 366 days long, depending on when you start counting. If you count from January 1 to December 31 then there will be 12 months but if you count from February 1 to January 31 then there will be 13 months (leap year). This means that every four years we need to add one extra day to make sure that our calendar stays in sync with Earth’s orbit around Sun. But what does all of that have to do with Blue Moons? Well, even though we only have 12 months per year, sometimes there are 13 full moons. But since February has only 28 days instead of 30 like other months, sometimes a new moon will fall on both January and March (in non-leap years) or both February and April (in leap years). These rare occurrences are known as Blue Moons.
Why Wasn’t There A Full Moon Last Month?
Well, you can’t have a Blue Moon unless there’s already been one full moon in a given month. That means that, since July has already had one full moon, we can’t get another one until August. The reason for that is pretty simple—at least from a scientific perspective. A blue moon comes about when there are two full moons in one calendar month, something that doesn’t happen very often because of some quirks in our calendar system. It happens every two to three years on average, but hasn’t happened since 1999. It won’t happen again until 2018. But what causes it? How does it work? And why haven’t people noticed before now if they occur so frequently? We have answers to those questions below.
Why do we only get one per month and not more? There are several reasons for that, which makes sense once you understand how our calendars came to be.
How Many Blue Moons Are There in 2019?
Blue moons occur every two to three years, depending on how you calculate a blue moon. Most people don’t consider February 29th a real full moon. In that case, there are no blue moons in 2019 because there are only 12 full moons in 2019 (one for each month). However, if you do count February as a full month, then there will be four total blue moons in 2019—one in January and one in March of both 2018 and 2019. This would mean there would be two blue moons in March 2019. So, when is the next Blue Moon? The next blue moon will take place on May 18th, 2020. You can see a list of upcoming blue moons here. The Science Behind Blue Moons: If we look at what makes up a blue moon, we find that it is mostly based on superstition rather than science. There are several variations of what defines a blue moon, but most agree that a blue moon occurs once every 2-3 years, or approximately 1 out of 4 times.
Future Blue Moons Dates
2015, 2028, 2037, 2048, 2059, 2070, 2081. The next Blue Moon will occur on October 28th 2015; note that there won’t be another one until January 31st 2018 (which also happens to be a Supermoon.) These are less rare than people think – there are usually two per year. But they only seem special because we call them once in a blue moon. In reality, they happen every 2-3 years depending on how you define blue moon. A true blue moon occurs when there are four full moons in any season (rather than within a single month). That means that once every 2-3 years you get two full moons in one calendar month, plus an extra full moon at some point during the year! This can happen in either spring or fall, but if it does happen in spring then it must also have happened in February of that same year (since February doesn’t have a full moon) making these blue moons impossible to predict ahead of time. So if you want to know whether your upcoming New Year’s Eve party will include a blue moon, check back here after February 1st!
The Short Answer
A blue moon occurs when there are two full moons within one calendar month. The technical definition of a blue moon refers to a second full moon that occurs in any particular month; most commonly, however, people use the term to refer to any third full moon in a season that has four total. This would create an interesting situation where, if you saw four full moons in one season but only three months, you might see another blue moon within that third month.
FAQ
What is a blue moon and when does it occur?
A blue moon is the name given to an additional full moon that occurs during a given month of the calendar. There is usually one full moon per month, for a total of twelve full moons per year. However, there are sporadically 13 full moons in a calendar year due to the lunar cycle’s length of roughly 29.5 days. Any time this occurs, the second full moon of a given month is called a “blue moon.” The word “blue” in “blue moon” is a colloquial idiom and does not indicate that the moon appears blue. This is a crucial point to remember. Blue moons are rather uncommon, occurring once every two to three years on average, and throughout history, they have been associated with folklore and cultural importance.
What is the blue moon myth?
A tale known as the “blue moon myth” has grown up around the use of the word “blue moon.” In popular culture, the term “blue moon” is sometimes misinterpreted as denoting an uncommon occurrence in which the moon exhibits a bluish hue. That isn’t the case, though. The name “blue moon” actually has nothing to do with the color of the moon; rather, a blue-colored moon is an incredibly unusual phenomena brought on by particular atmospheric elements like dust or smoke particles in the atmosphere. The myth most likely came from the notion that the word “blue moon” should be connected to something as peculiar as a blue moon. However, the actual meaning of a blue moon is an additional full moon that occurs within a calendar month; therefore, it is an event tied to the calendar rather than a description of the moon’s hue.
What has to happen for a blue moon to occur?
A blue moon requires one extra full moon to occur in a calendar month. There is usually one full moon per month, for a total of twelve full moons per year. Nonetheless, as the lunar cycle lasts for about 29.5 days, there may occasionally be more than 12 full moons in a year. In such an instance, the second full moon that falls inside a single month is called a “blue moon.” The misalignment of the lunar and calendar months causes this phenomena, which happens around once every two to three years on average. The phrase “blue moon” refers only to the calendar word used to record the full moon cycles; the moon is usually gray or white in hue.
What is the secret of blue moon?
The “secret” of the blue moon is actually more of a historical and calendrical oddity than a true secret. The phrase “blue moon” describes the occurrence of an additional full moon inside a calendar month, not any mystery or occult phenomenon related to the moon. The difference in length between the Gregorian calendar month, which lasts 30 or 31 days, and the lunar cycle, which lasts approximately 29.5 days, is the cause of this sporadic occurrence. When a single calendar month has two full moons, the second one is referred to as a “blue moon.” Instead than referring to the hue of the moon, the term “blue” here refers to its rarity—it occurs just once every two to three years on average. Rather than any enigmatic lunar occurrence, the “secret” is found in the lunar cycle and the intricate workings of the calendar.
