Blue Moon on Aug 31, 2012

[sky otter]

The next Blue Moon is August 31, 2012

   
According to modern folklore, a Blue Moon is the second full moon of a calendar month. Learn how this name came to be, in this post.


http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/when-is-the-next-blue-moon

...............................................................

Blue Moon 2012: August To Bring Two Full Moons, Astronomical Rarity
Posted: 07/30/2012 8:24 am Updated: 07/30/2012 8:33 am

By: Joe Rao

Published: 07/29/2012 01:21 PM EDT on SPACE.com

The month of August brings us not one, but two full moons. The first will kick off the month on Wednesday (Aug.1), and will be followed by a second on Aug. 31.

Some almanacs and calendars assert that when two full moons occur within a calendar month, the second full moon is called a "blue moon."

The full moon that night will likely look no different than any other full moon. But the moon can change color in certain conditions.

After forest fires or volcanic eruptions, the moon can appear to take on a bluish or even lavender hue.  Soot and ash particles, deposited high in the Earth's atmosphere, can sometimes make the moon appear bluish. Smoke from widespread forest fire activity in western Canada created a blue moon across eastern North America in late September 1950. In the aftermath of the massive eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in June 1991 there were reports of blue moons (and even blue suns) worldwide. [Infographic: Blue Moons Explained]

Origin of the term

The phrase "once in a blue moon" was first noted in 1824 and refers to occurrences that are uncommon, though not truly rare. Yet, to have two full moons in the same month is not as uncommon as one might think.  In fact, it occurs, on average, about every 2.66 years.  And in the year 1999, it occurred twice in a span of just three months.

rest of article here

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/30/blue-moon-2012-august-two-full-moons_n_1718517.html

[Primus58]

Cool link Sky otter, thanks, also for the Gnosis link! On that day I will be planting Pride of Barbados seedlings! Butterflies love them, and they are drought tolerant... hope everyone has a happy Blue Moon!

[Shasta56]

Sounds like a good time to haul my hubby out to da boonies.  We've been talkng about doing some stargazing.

Shasta

[zorgon]

[sky otter]

;)ok.. sorry but i had to..just sing along




Primus those are rally nice posies..gonna have to loke em up.. i haven't seen those before
and you are welcome on the links