What is a blue moon?

Answer 1

The commonly accepted definition is the second full moon of a month. Because the cycle of the moon is about 29.5 days, it doesn't happen very often (on average 41 times per century), hence the expression "once in a blue moon" to describe something that rarely happens. To have two full moons in one month, the first full moon has to be on the first day or early on the second day of the month and then the month has to be long enough for another 29.5 days to pass.

An alternate (and probably the original) definition of "blue moon" (the third of four full moons during a season) can be found here: http://skytonight.com/observing/objects/moon/3304131.html

Answer 2

Originally it was when there were 4 full moons in one season, but it has changed over time to mean when there are 2 full moons in one calendar month.

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/070525_ns_blue_moon.html

"It was not until the year 1999 that the origin of the calendrical term "Blue Moon" was at long last discovered. It was during the time frame from 1932 through 1957 that the Maine Farmers' Almanac suggested that if one of the four seasons (winter, spring, summer or fall) contained four full Moons instead of the usual three, that the third full Moon should be called a "Blue Moon."

But thanks to a couple of misinterpretations of this arcane rule, first by a writer in a 1946 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, and much later, in 1980 in a syndicated radio program, it now appears that the second full Moon in a month is the one that's now popularly accepted as the definition of a "Blue Moon"

Answer 3

A blue moon is when the moon is a full moon twice in one month, the second full moon is known as the Blue Moon

Answer 4

The original definition of a "blue moon" was the third full moon in a season that has four full moons, rather than the usual three; but in 1946, as a result of an error in Sky and Telescope magazine, it came to mean the second full moon in a calendar month that has two full moons.

"Blue Moon" is also a song by Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart, written in 1934, that has become a standard ballad. The narrator of the song is relating a stroke of luck so unlikely that it must have taken place under a blue moon. It has been performed by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Holiday, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, the Marcels (who had a doo-wop version) and many others. Here are the lyrics:

Blue Moon
You saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own
Blue Moon
You know just what I was there for
You heard me saying a prayer for
Someone I really could care for

And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will hold
I heard somebody whisper please adore me
And when I looked to the Moon it turned to gold

Blue Moon
Now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own

And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will ever hold
I heard somebody whisper please adore me
And when I looked the Moon had turned to gold

Blue moon
Now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own

Blue moon
Now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own

Answer 5

Also, since you have already received correct answers, did you know that blue moons aren't all that rare? It has been known to happen (on rare occasions) 2 times in a 3 month period (when using the 2nd full moon of a calendar month as the definition)

Answer 6

Two full moons in one month, the second is called the blue moon

Answer 7

A blue moon sounds really special but it is really just the second full moon in a month.

Answer 8

simple a blue moon is a second full moon in a month

Answer 9

I don't know but if you find some blue cheese put it on your salad for i've been told it only occurs once in a blue moon

Answer 10

is it from the phrase "once in a blue moon"?

this term was coined when the moon appeared blue for tow years when krakatoa volcano erupted in 1883. It appeared blue because of the smoke and dust particle in the air.