We hear the term all the time or used to. Once in a Blue Moon.
Does anyone know what is a Blue Moon?
2007-09-02 12:37:47 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The moon phases from new moon to full moon and back to new moon again take about 29.5 days to go through the whole cycle.
So in most months there is only one full moon that calendar month.
But in some months, there is a full moon on the 1st or 2nd of the month, then 29 days later we're still in that calendar month and there's another full moon.
A Blue Moon is when that happens - when we have 2 full moons in one calendar month.
The phrase "once in a blue moon" means something that doesn't happen often. And we get 2 full moons in one calendar month only occasionally (there was a blue moon in June, the next one is May 2008).
2007-09-02 12:45:43 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
A "Blue Moon" refers to a full moon that appears twice in the same calendar month.
Because this is not a frequent occurrence, the expression "Only once in a Blue Moon" was developed to simply refer to something, like an event, which does not happen very often.
WHAT DETERMINES WHEN A BLUE MOON APPEARS?
Since a full moon occurs every 29 1/2 days, if there is a full moon on the 1st or 2nd day of a month, there is a good chance there will be a second full or "blue moon" that month.
WHEN WILL I SEE THE NEXT BLUE MOON?
There was a blue moon in May 2007 (and one in June 2007 for those in Europe and Asia), and the next ones will be in May 2008, December 2009, August 2012, then July 2015.
And we won't see two blue moons in one year again until 2018!
2007-09-02 12:45:26 · answer #2 · answered by GeneL 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
In a single calendar month, if two full moons occur ,then the second full moon is called a blue moon.This is likely to occur if the first full moon occurs on first day or the second day of the month,then the other full moon will occur at the end of the same month.
But the occurance is not regular to pinpoint.In a span of 19 years,at least 8 months will have two full moons.Similarly in a span of 19 years or so, a single year will have two blue moons.The next occurance will be on 31 st,December,2009
2007-09-02 15:30:25 · answer #3 · answered by Arasan 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hmm.. 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.
2007-09-02 13:53:06 · answer #4 · answered by crysco22 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A second full moon in the same month. It's rare so the expression "once in a blue moon" refers to something that rarely happens.
2007-09-02 12:45:32 · answer #5 · answered by neni 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Second full moon in a month.
2007-09-02 12:44:45 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
according to my knowledge, blue moon is a beer and a song.
2007-09-02 17:23:57 · answer #7 · answered by SIMONE 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yup....what they said.
2007-09-02 13:04:17 · answer #8 · answered by adancersmom 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
whilst??? did she say "whilst"?
2007-09-02 15:19:29 · answer #9 · answered by orion_1812@yahoo.com 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋