where does the term blue moon come from, in "once in a blue moon"?

Question

Is there really a blue moon stage?

Also would you care to comment about "honeymoon" does this have some relation to the real moon?

William

Answer 1

Once in a Blue Moon ... is a common way of saying not very often, but what exactly is a Blue Moon?
According to the popular definition, it is the second Full Moon to occur in a single calendar month.

The average interval between Full Moons is about 29.5 days, whilst the length of an average month is roughly 30.5 days. This makes it very unlikely that any given month will contain two Full Moons, though it does sometimes happen.

On average, there will be 41 months that have two Full Moons in every century, so you could say that once in a Blue Moon actually means once every two-and-a-half years.
For more on the Blue Moon go to http://www.obliquity.com/astro/bluemoon.html

Answer 2

I don;t know about the honeymoon, but read this article about 'Blue Moon". I was going to say that Blue Moon basically means something that will never happen, but I guess I was wrong:

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/07jul_bluemoon.htm

Answer 3

The second full moon occuring in a month is called a blue moon.

Answer 4

Honeymoon comes from celtic times where the bride and groom drink mead which is made from honey for a lunar month or moon and every so often the moon has a blue tinge which is from reflected light

Answer 5

Blue moon refers to when two full moons happen in a month. Very rare.

Answer 6

I don now, I'm not from this country.. But one guy with a blue eay was looking up to the moon and he didn't see it very yellow moon... So he say HA- a BLUE MOON!!!

Answer 7

once in a blue moon means it don't happen much how many blue moons have you seen