Story:
Several messages claim that we can witness a Rare Blue Moon on This Friday, August 31st, 2012. It is a rare phenomenon which happens only once in every 3 years.
Analysis:
It is a fact that on Friday, the 31st of August, 2012, everyone can witness an occurrence called rare Blue Moon. However, the moon will not turn into blue color; it should be noted. The ‘rare occurrence’ should also be understood properly. The messages claiming that Moon will turn Blue the coming Friday are simply hoaxes.
About Rare Blue Moon
Both in terms of its color and its rare occurrence, “Blue Moon” is often misunderstood. It has got nothing to do with the color, and is no different than any other full moon that we generally see. Except for its occurrence according to English calendar. Generally, there are 12 full moons every year. Therefore, a season of 3 months will have three full moons. Occasionally, when four full moons occur in a season, the third of the full moons is traditionally called a “Blue Moon”. Such an year will have 13 full moons. On an average, this happens once in every 2.7 years. More often, two full moons will fall within the same month, and many people call the second full moon as the Blue Moon, but this is NOT the original meaning of the term.
Origin of the Term ‘Blue Moon’
The term ‘Blue Moon’ is believed to be named after an old English term meaning “betrayer,” as the Blue Moon is an extra full moon occurring in a season, adding peculiarity to normal calendar. This is because, our English calendar months are not perfectly synced with the lunar months. You can read about this in detail in the link provided in the reference section given below. It is because of this rare occurrence, there comes this popular saying ‘Once in a blue moon..’.
Moon can actually appear blue in color, under certain circumstances, like the presence of ash in the atmosphere caused by fires or volcanic eruptions. However, this type of Blue Moon cannot be predicted in advance. You can find further details of such occurrences of ‘Blue looking Moon’ in the video below.
The previous Blue Moon occurred on December 31st, 2009, and the next Blue Moon will occur on July 31st, 2015. For those of you still interested to watch it this Friday, the moon will reach its full phase at 9:58 a.m. EDT.
0 Comments