Tag - NASA

Folklore or Science… Is a Blue Moon Really Blue?

You might have overheard your local television meteorologist say something about a blue moon. Of course, my boys were hoping to see a real blue moon, but instead, they were treated to the second full moon of the month. According to popular definition, a blue moon is the second full moon in a month… and as you might expect, NASA has more to say about it…

According to modern folklore, a Blue Moon is the second full moon in a calendar month. Usually months have only one full moon, but occasionally a second one sneaks in. Full moons are separated by 29 days, while most months are 30 or 31 days long; so it is possible to fit two full moons in a single month. This happens every two and a half years, on average.

But you can imagine the disappointment in their voices as my three boys ran outside to see… a normal full moon. “Dad, it’s not blue… that stinks!”

A little more digging on the NASA site and we discovered that there was a time when people on Earth saw a real blue moon.

NASA Bombs the Moon – Collision Easy to See

We’re not sure what the big deal is… our students looked through a normal telescope at 5:30 a.m. MST and saw clear evidence of the NASA rocket that bombed the moon in search of ice crystals. Maybe Matt Lauer from the Today Show wasn’t looking at the same thing we saw.