Earthlings got to experience a lunar phenomenon that happens, well, once in a blue moon.
Aug. 29-30 saw a so-called “super blue moon,” rise and dance across the sky on consecutive nights that broke with cloudless skies, perfect for a little moon watching.
According to the website, Space.com, last week’s super blue moon was one of the brightest full moons of the year and is the last one we’ll see here for another 14 years, as the next such lunar light show isn’t due until 2037.
The term “blue moon” refers to two things — “Either the third full moon in a season [summer] that has four full moons; or, more commonly, the second of two full moons that fall in a calendar month.”
There was a previous full moon on Aug. 1 and that one too was a “super” moon, meaning it was closest to the earth and appeared brighter and larger in the sky.
Last week’s super blue moon was near the planet Saturn in the sky, though it was a bit hard to see given the sheer brightness of the moon’s glow.
Photo by Neil Farrell
