Moon Phases for 2013 from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Tonight’s full moon (August 20, 2013) is known as a Blue Moon because it’s the third full moon in the season.
Not what you thought? The Blue Moon has been incorrectly defined over the years as the second Full Moon in a calendar month.
Actually, a Blue Moon is the third full moon in a four-full-moon season. The usage of the term blue moon to describe the second full moon in one calendar month results from a misinterpretation of the traditional definition of that term in the March 1946 issue of Sky & Telescope.
Full moons occur approximately every 29.5 days — the proper time period for the moon to be facing opposite the sun, and caused by a full circle reflection on the full face of the moon.
The next Blue Moon is calculated to be May 21, 2016. If you want to go by the incorrect definition (second full moon in a calendar month), you will see both those two moons in the calendar month of July 2015 — July 2 and July 31.
The annual August moon has also become known as the Full Sturgeon Moon because of the large fish that can easily be caught during this time of the year, a name that allegedly came from bodies of water including the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain.
The term Blue Moon has nothing to do with the actual color of the moon.
Blue Moon – Chris Isaak.
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