This weekend is your only chance to see a full โblue moonโ before 2024, officials say
If you want to catch a glimpse of a rare, full โblue moon,โ this weekend may be your only chance for a few years, according to NASA.
Rare Halloween blue moon will be visible for first time in 76 years
This year, a blue moon will fall on Halloween -- and itโs the first blue moon weโll experience since the last one on March 31, 2018. A blue moon, in case youโre wondering, isnโt blue in color at all โ unless youโre talking about the other blue moon, which weโll fill you in on shortly. A blue moon, by the most popular definition, according to meteorologist Paul Gross, is when two full moons appear in a single month. โWe will have full moons on Oct. 1 and 31, so that means that weโll have a blue moon on Halloween,โ Gross said. The full moon to follow on the last day of the month then becomes a Halloween blue moon.
Does a โblue moonโ actually exist?
Most people have heard the phrase, โonce in a blue moonโ when referring to something that doesnโt happen very often. But an actual blue moon is traditionally defined as the second full moon to happen in a single calendar month, and usually doesnโt have anything to do with the actual color of the moon. In this case, our second full moon, and now blue moon, will be on Halloween night. According to earthsky.org, that will happen next in the year 2048, when a monthly blue moon falls on Jan. 31, and a seasonal blue moon on Aug. 23. If youโre wondering, the next seasonal blue moon will be August 22, 2021.