Once in a Blue Moon!

It is January the 31st and sky gazers around the globe (except parts of the African and the South American continent) are excited for a rare phenomenon known as the Super Blue Blood Moon. The last time this phenomenon occurred was on December 30th, 1952 in the Asian continent. In the American continent, this phenomenon dates back to around 1866, some 152 years ago when it was last seen.

Here are some commonly asked queries about this rare event:

Will the Moon appear blue in color?

Nope. The moon won't appear blue at all. In fact, a slightly reddish color like dried blood is what the moon would reflect today for a brief moment. And the reason for the red color is due to the long nature of the wavelength in red light, which is scattered by the Earth's atmosphere. We all read that in our Class 10 Science Text Books.

Then why is it termed as 'blue'?

The term Blue Moon was used as a result of the March 1946 issue of Sky and Telescope magazine, which contained an article called 'Once In a Blue Moon' by James Hugh Pruett. Later on, it was found that he had some confusion while looking at some dates but this slightly misinterpreted lapse gave the definition of the 'Blue Moon'.

What exactly is meant by Blue Moon?

A blue moon occurs when two full moons happen in the same calendar month. A full moon occurs approximately at every 29.5 days. So, for two full moons to occur in the same calendar month, the first has to occur at exactly on the first few days of the month. This paradox of two full moons in one calendar month happens roughly every three years. Incidentally, on January 2nd, 2018 the first full moon occurred. The second is scheduled to take place today, i.e the 31st of January.

So how is today's conjuncture so rare?

The rarity of today's advent is that the blue moon will occur along with the Super moon. Supermoon is that phenomenon during a lunar eclipse, when the moon reaches the closest point to earth in a single orbit. That is today, the Lunar Eclipse along with the Blue Moon and the Super Moon will transpire in sync! This is known as the 'Super Blue Blood Moon'. It is also termed as the 'Lunar Trifecta'. That is some really exciting event altogether.

This is what NASA tweeted.

So go out there on your terrace and watch this event unfold! You do not need any type of special observatory glasses to view it. You can view it with your bare eyes without any harm. Mark your timings, friends!

p.s: If you are too lazy to come out from under the blanket, you can also live stream it here: Live Super Blue Blood Moon

Happy Sky Gazing!