Blue Moon Aug 2012

Did you catch the blue moon last night?  For us there was some cloud cover low on the horizon, but luckily the moon came out of it before it lost the pretty yellow colour.  And the remaining streaky clouds made for a pretty scene over Lake Lanier, near Buford Dam in Forsyth County, GA.

There were a few folks out on jet skis and boats out on the lake, which left nice patterns in the moon's reflection in the water.

I've always been told that a blue moon occurs when you have two moons in one month.  This is what occurs, but the original reason it was given that name was to keep the standard full moon names from getting out of whack.

There are 12 full moons in a standard year (three for every season), however roughly every 2.5 years there are 13 moons, giving four full moons in one season.  When this happens, the third full moon in a season with four is called the 'blue moon'.

So when's the next one?  Not until 2015.  But at least that's not as long a wait as the next Transit of Venus.  And in 2018 there will be 14 full moons: two each in January and March.  Poor February loses out and won't have a full moon at all - the trouble with having a short month!  Were you out moon-gazing last night?  I hope you had good weather for it.