Look up to the skies! Tonight, Tuesday is a chance to see the Super Rare Blue Moon – it’s also the Full Sturgeon Moon, the Full Red Moon, the Green Corn Moon and the Grain Moon. Tonight’s full moon qualifies as a Blue Moon because it’s the third full moon in a season with four (most seasons have only three).
The annual August full moon has come to be known as the Full Sturgeon Moon, because the large fish called sturgeon can most easily be caught at this time of year. Another name for this month’s full moon is the Full Red Moon, because the weather and atmospheric conditions during this season can often make the moon look reddish when it rises through a haze. The third name, the Green Corn or Grain Moon is because of the harvest that happens around this time of year.
Accord to Wikipedia, “Full moons occur every 29.5 days on average, when the moon is directly opposite the sun from the perspective of Earth. This causes its whole disk to be fully illuminated as a large, bright circle. Usually, when the moon is full, it passes either above or below Earth’s shadow, but sometimes, when it is perfectly aligned, it travels right through the shadow, causing a lunar eclipse, when its disk is dark.”
Blue Moons don’t happen too often, which is why the phrase “once in a Blue Moon,” has sprung up to mean only very rarely. After Tuesday’s event, the next Blue Moon isn’t set to occur until 2015.
For the best viewing reach higher elevation or avoid city lights and clouds. Check out the great song inspired by the incredible blue moon.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0fy1HeJv80]
Diablo Reporter 