Real Talk!

According to the popular definition, it is the second Full Moon to occur in a single calendar month. Yes, Kids… this is what I’m talking about… it’s the Blue Moon that you do things once in.

They say, on average, there will be 41 months that have two Full Moons in every century, so they could say that once in a Blue Moon actually means once every two-and-a-half years.

The other (older tradition) blue moon event was said to happen when there are four full moons in a season, this last happened in August 2005. Since this type of blue moon was calculated according to the seasons, it could only occur in February, May, August, or November, about a month before the equinox (or the solstice).

Apparently, the average interval between Full Moons is about 29.5 days, while the length of an average month is roughly 30.5 days. This makes it very unlikely that any given month will contain two Full Moons, although it does happen.

The four Full Moons in May, June and July 2007 are: May 2 & May 31 and June 30 & July 29. Which means, you get a chance to do something once, again, next month.

Supposedly, the rare occurrence of two blue moons in the same year happens approximately once every 19 years but then, 1999 was the year in which a blue moon appeared twice, it was in January and March. That wasn’t so long ago!

I’m told that there will be no blue moon, of any kind, in the years 2011, 2014, and 2017- unless, of course, we experience another explosion of Mount Krakatoa. This happened in 1883 and is said to have made the world’s loudest noise, ever! Scientists suggest it would be much like the blast of a 100-megaton bomb. The sound was heard (like a cannon blast) 600 kilometers away. Anyway…

The plumes of ash rose so high and the particles were so thick that they messed up the red rays of the spectrum and for years after, the moon had a blue cast… some nights the moon was a little more green than blue…

At the same time, the sun went a lavender shade and the sunsets were so vivid that on a number of occasions observers called for the fire brigade!