The lunar cycle is approximately 28 days long. Accordingly, we tend to see only one full moon a month. However, this August is host to two full moons; there is one on August 1 and another on August 31. According to space.com, a blue moon is a full moon that occurs as the second full moon in a given month.
The next blue moon, if the upcoming one is missed, will occur three years later in July of 2015 with the same numerical dates. The saying “once in a blue moon” is well suited to expressing uncommon occurrences such as this.
A blue moon occurs, on average, about every 2.66 years if calculated with the length of one lunar cycle in mind. However, in the year 1999, two blue moons occurred in the span of just three months.
“I think subtle happening like this are nice. They’re like tiny treats that you forgot you had at the bottom of the candy jar,” said Crescenta Valley High senior Simon Park. “It’s not anything grand, but it’s nice to know about stuff like this and be a part of something that happens only once every few years.”
Even though the term “blue moon” is applied to this lunar event, there is actually nothing different about the moon itself. It does not change color and will look like any other full moon. However, the moon can seem to change color in certain situations. To clarify, the actual moon does not change, but our perception of it does; examples are when the moon is near the horizon and so seems to appear red, just as how the sun also appears to turn red during a sunset, according to the astrology section of Cornell University’s website.
Scientists have confirmed that the moon can actually turn blue during times where large amounts of ash are present, according to space.com. If there has been a recent forest fire or volcanic eruption to throw significant amounts of smoke into the air, it is possible for the moon to be tinted in a bluish hue. An example of an actual blue moon was during late September, 1950, when smoke from a forest fire in Canada drifted down to cause a real blue moon over eastern North America.
