{"id":3732,"date":"2009-12-30T10:59:00","date_gmt":"2009-12-30T10:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/rare-new-years-eve-blue-moon-to-ring-in-2010\/"},"modified":"2009-12-30T10:59:00","modified_gmt":"2009-12-30T10:59:00","slug":"rare-new-years-eve-blue-moon-to-ring-in-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/space-station\/rare-new-years-eve-blue-moon-to-ring-in-2010.php","title":{"rendered":"Rare New Year’s Eve ‘blue moon’ to ring in 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rare<\/a>Once in a <\/span>blue moon<\/span> there is one on <\/span>New Year's Eve<\/span>. Revelers ringing in 2010<\/span> will be treated to a so-called blue moon. According to popular definition, a blue moon is the second <\/span>full moon<\/span> in a month. But don't expect it to be blue — the name has nothing to do with the color of our closest celestial neighbor. <\/span><\/div>

A full moon occurred on Dec. 2<\/span>. It will appear again on Thursday in time for the New Year's countdown.<\/span><\/p>

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\"If you're in Times Square, you'll see the full moon right above you. It's going to be that brilliant<\/span>,\" said Jack Horkheimer<\/span>, director emeritus of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium and host of a weekly astronomy TV show.<\/span><\/p>

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The New Year's Eve<\/span><\/span> blue moon<\/span> will be visible in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America and Africa. For partygoers in Australia and Asia, the full moon does not show up until <\/span>New Year's Day<\/span>, making January a blue moon month for them.<\/span><\/p>

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However, the Eastern Hemisphere<\/span> can celebrate with a partial <\/span>lunar eclipse<\/span> on New Year's Eve when part of the moon enters the Earth's shadow. The eclipse will not be visible in the Americas.<\/span><\/p>

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A full moon<\/span> occurs every 29.5 days, and most years have 12. On average, an extra full moon in a month — a blue moon <\/span>— occurs every 2.5 years. The last time there was a lunar double take was in May 2007. <\/span>New Year's Eve blue moons<\/span> are rarer, occurring every 19 years. The last time was in 1990; the next one won't come again until 2028.<\/span><\/p>

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Blue moons<\/span> have no astronomical significance, said <\/span>Greg Laughlin<\/span>, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz.<\/span><\/p>

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\"`Blue moon' is just a name in the same sense as a `<\/span>hunter's moon<\/span>' or a `<\/span>harvest moon<\/span>,'\" Laughlin said in an e-mail.<\/span><\/p>

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The popular definition of blue moon came about after a writer for Sky & Telescope<\/span> magazine in 1946 misinterpreted the Maine Farmer's Almanac and labeled a blue moon as the second full moon<\/span> in a month. In fact, the almanac defined a blue moon as the third full moon in a season with four <\/span>full moons<\/span>, not the usual three.<\/span><\/p>

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Though <\/span>Sky & Telescope<\/span> corrected the error decades later, the definition caught on. For purists, however, this New Year's Eve full moon<\/span> doesn't even qualify as a blue moon. It's just the first full moon of the winter season.<\/span><\/p>

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In a tongue-in-cheek essay posted on the magazine's Web site this week, senior contributing editor Kelly Beatty wrote: \"If skies are clear when I'm out celebrating, I'll take a peek at that brilliant orb as it rises over the Boston skyline to see if it's an icy shade of blue. Or maybe I'll just howl.\"<\/span><\/p>

View my blog's last three great articles....<\/span><\/p>