The Sky Tonight Update: Full Moon, Blue Moon

The Moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and its face will be will be fully illuminated. This phase occurs at 14:51 UTC.

Since this is the second full moon in the same month, it is sometimes referred to as a blue moon. This rare calendar event only occurs every few months, giving rise to the term “once in a blue moon”.

A year has 12 months, and months, or “months,” have lengths more or less based on a single orbit of the moon around Earth. What we call a season – winter, spring, summer, fall – typically lasts three months, and typically has three full moons.

If a season has four full moons, then the third full moon may be called a Blue Moon, according to the old Maine Farmer’s Almanac.

 

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