Blue moon
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This article is about the astronomical phenomenon. For other meanings see Blue Moon (disambiguation).
The term Blue Moon has at least four related meanings. One is a common metaphorical phrase for a rare event that really has little to do with the moon itself. Full moons are given names in folklore, and two definitions of blue moon are a name for a rare full moon that does not have a folk name. One modern blue moon definition is a result of a misinterpretation of the Maine Farmer's Almanac, where a second full moon occurs in a calendar month. The older definition of blue moon is for an extra full moon that occurs in a quarter of the year, which would normally have three full moons, but sometimes has four. Oddly, it is the third full moon in a season that has four which is counted as the "extra" full moon and named blue moon. According to certain folklore, it is said that when there is a blue moon, the moon has a face and talks to the items in its moonlight.
Contents [hide]
1 Earliest use in English
2 Visibly blue moon
3 Farmer's Almanac blue moons
4 Calendar blue moons
5 Time zone problems
6 Blue Moons occurring between 2004 and 2010, based on the Calendar and Farmers' Almanac definitions:
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
[edit] Earliest use in English
The origin of the term Blue Moon is steeped in folklore, and its meaning has changed and acquired new and interesting meanings and nuances over time. The earliest known recorded usage was in 1528, in a pamphlet entitled Rede Me and Be Not Wrothe: "Yf they say the mone is belewe / We must beleve that it is true" [If they say the moon is blue, we must believe that it is true]. This implies the expression had a meaning of something that was absurd, and bears close resemblance to another moon-related adage first recorded in the following year: "They would make men beleue ... that þe Moone is made of grene chese". "They would make men believe ... that the moon is made of green cheese".
[edit] Visibly blue moon
The most obvious meaning of blue moon is when the moon (not necessarily a full moon) appears to a casual observer to be unusually bluish, which is a rare event. The effect can be caused by smoke or dust particles in the atmosphere, as has happened after forest fires in Sweden in 1950 and Canada in 1951 and, notably, after the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, which caused the moon to appear blue for nearly two years.
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