The Blue Moon
This is only 12 moons. The 13th Moon is called the Blue Moon, and occurs when four full moons fall within the same season. As regular seasons only have 3 full moons, the fourth full moon between solstice and equinox, or vice versa, is the Blue Moon. This happens once a year, always at a different time due to the inconsistency of the modern calendar with the luner cycles. The Celts originally set their year to correspond with the 13 moons but with the coming of the Romans, this tradition was lost. Their 13th Moon was called Ruis or Elder. The Blue Moon is considered the 'goal moon', at this time it is customary to set specific goals for yourself and to review your accomplishments and failures since the last one.
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Ever wondered where the definitions came from? See below for a more descript “scientific” observation of the “Blue Moon”. A lot of my spirituality involves incorporating things from various traditions, most noteably Wicca. In particular things having to do with the moon.
I can already see the “goal moon” having it’s effect on me this month in that several major goals are being set despite my fighting to have to deal with the stress of large decisions :P I’ve also already had one review of accomplishments and failures and I’m sure more are to come this month.
So in honor of that which drives me especially this month, I thought perhaps you might like to see the two sides of this particular story… or in this case, the three of them; the pagan, the scientific, & the mistaken definition. All of these make up the history of “The Blue Moon”.
Be well everyone, you are loved today and everyday.
XO Muse
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Blue Moon
From Nick Greene,Your Guide to Space / Astronomy.
"Once in a blue moon."
You have probably heard this expression before. It usually means not very often. But, is there really such a thing?
Well, yes, but it’s probably not what you may think, and it’s definitely not what it used to be.
According to David Wilton’s fabulous Word Origins web site, the phrase Blue Moon probably started with an anonymous poem from 1528,
Read me and be not wrothe,
For I say no things but truth:
"If they say the moon is blue,
"We must believe that it is true."
Calling the moon blue was an obvious absurdity, like saying it was made of green cheese. The phrase, “until a blue moon” developed in the 19th century, meaning never, or at least extremely unlikely.
After all, they do occur.
In 1883, an Indonesian volcano named Krakatoa exploded. Scientists liken the blast to a 100-megaton nuclear bomb. Fully 600 km away, people heard the noise as loud as a cannon shot. Plumes of ash rose to the very top of Earth's atmosphere. And the moon turned blue.
Krakatoa's ash was the reason. Some of the ash-clouds were filled with particles about 1 micron (one millionth of a meter) wide--the right size to strongly scatter red light, while allowing other colors to pass. White moonbeams shining through the clouds emerged blue, and sometimes green.
Blue moons persisted for years after the eruption. People also saw lavender suns and, for the first time, noctilucent clouds. The ash caused "such vivid red sunsets that fire engines were called out in New York, Poughkeepsie, and New Haven to quench the apparent conflagration," according to volcanologist Scott Rowland at the University of Hawaii.
Other less potent volcanos have turned the moon blue, too. People saw blue moons in 1983, for instance, after the eruption of the El Chichon volcano in Mexico. And there are reports of some caused by Mt. St. Helens in 1980 and Mount Pinatubo in 1991.
The key to a blue moon is having in the air lots of particles slightly wider than the wavelength of red light (0.7 micron)--and no other sizes present. This is rare, but volcanoes sometimes spit out such clouds, as do forest fires.
The use of the phrase blue moon to indicate an actual astronomical phenomenon first started in 1932 with the Maine Farmer’s Almanac. Its definition was a season with four full moons rather than the usual three, where the third of four full moons would be called a "blue moon." Since seasons are established by the equinoxes and solstices and not calendar months, it is possible for a year to have twelve full moons, one each month, yet have one season with four.
That definition mutated into the one most quoted today when in 1946, an article in an astronomy magazine by amateur astronomer James Hugh Pruett misinterpreted the Maine rule to mean two full moons in one month. This definition seems to have stuck, despite its error, possibly thanks to being picked up by the Trivial Pursuit game. As we’ve seen previously, as in the case of seeing the
Great Wall of China from space, the writers of Trivial Pursuit are capable of making errors.Calling the moon blue was an obvious absurdity, like saying it was made of green cheese. The phrase, “until a blue moon” developed in the 19th century, meaning never, or at least extremely unlikely.
After all, they do occur.
In 1883, an Indonesian volcano named Krakatoa exploded. Scientists liken the blast to a 100-megaton nuclear bomb. Fully 600 km away, people heard the noise as loud as a cannon shot. Plumes of ash rose to the very top of Earth's atmosphere. And the moon turned blue.
Krakatoa's ash was the reason. Some of the ash-clouds were filled with particles about 1 micron (one millionth of a meter) wide--the right size to strongly scatter red light, while allowing other colors to pass. White moonbeams shining through the clouds emerged blue, and sometimes green.
Blue moons persisted for years after the eruption. People also saw lavender suns and, for the first time, noctilucent clouds. The ash caused "such vivid red sunsets that fire engines were called out in New York, Poughkeepsie, and New Haven to quench the apparent conflagration," according to volcanologist Scott Rowland at the University of Hawaii.
Other less potent volcanos have turned the moon blue, too. People saw blue moons in 1983, for instance, after the eruption of the El Chichon volcano in Mexico. And there are reports of some caused by Mt. St. Helens in 1980 and Mount Pinatubo in 1991.
The key to a blue moon is having in the air lots of particles slightly wider than the wavelength of red light (0.7 micron)--and no other sizes present. This is rare, but volcanoes sometimes spit out such clouds, as do forest fires.
The use of the phrase blue moon to indicate an actual astronomical phenomenon first started in 1932 with the Maine Farmer’s Almanac. Its definition was a season with four full moons rather than the usual three, where the third of four full moons would be called a "blue moon." Since seasons are established by the equinoxes and solstices and not calendar months, it is possible for a year to have twelve full moons, one each month, yet have one season with four.
That definition mutated into the one most quoted today when in 1946, an article in an astronomy magazine by amateur astronomer James Hugh Pruett misinterpreted the Maine rule to mean two full moons in one month. This definition seems to have stuck, despite its error, possibly thanks to being picked up by the Trivial Pursuit game. As we’ve seen previously, as in the case of seeing the
Whether you use the newer definition or the one from the Maine Farmer’s Almanac, a blue moon, while not common, happens on a regular basis. Either way, they occur approximately 7 times in a 19 year period.
Much less common is a double blue moon (2 in one year). That only happens once in the same 19 year period. They occur in January and March, thanks to the short month, February. The last double we saw was in 1999. The next will happen in 2018.
So, will you ever see a blue moon? In astronomical terms, it is very likely. If you hope to see a full moon which is the actual color blue, that is less likely, but possible, especially during forest fire season. But, if you don’t want to do something, don’t put it off until a blue moon. You may be at it sooner than you’d like.
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