Here’s when and how to watch the rare blue, or Sturgeon, moon before it next occurs in August 2024.
A blue moon is the third full moon in a season containing four full moons, rather than the usual three, according to Sky & Telescope magazine. The sky phenomenon has been a cultural muse for music, art and language — such as hit songs » When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again » and » Blue Moon,» recorded by multiple artists including Elvis Presley, and the saying «once in a blue moon,» which describes a rare event. NASA has reported the first recorded use of «blue moon» occurring in 1528, while Sky & Telescope has traced the term’s origin back to the Maine Farmers’ Almanac published in the 1930s. «Introducing the ‘Blue’ Moon meant that the traditional full Moon names, such as the Wolf Moon and Harvest Moon, stayed in (sync) with their season,» said Diana Hannikainen, Sky & Telescope’s observing editor, in a news release. This was before late amateur astronomer and Sky & Telescope contributor Hugh Pruett incorrectly understood the definition in 1946, and ultimately helped circulate the popular definition of blue moon: the second full moon within a month, the last of which occurred on Halloween 2020, according to Sky & Telescope. People in the Americas will be able to see a nearly full moon Saturday night, before the true blue moon reaches its highest point in the sky early Sunday morning at 1:04 a.m. Eastern time, according to NASA. The moon will reach peak illumination at 8:02 a.m. Eastern time Sunday and appear close to full after dusk that day. The full blue moon, which happens about once every 2.7 years on average, won’t actually appear blue, though — that only happens even more rarely, when «volcanic eruptions or forest fires send lots of smoke and fine dust into the atmosphere,» according to Sky & Telescope.
