This week: It's Not a Blue Moon, Part II Edited by: Robert Waltz  
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I like to think that the moon is there even if I am not looking at it.
—Albert Einstein
I’ve never seen a moon in the sky that, if it didn’t take my breath away, at least misplaced it for a moment.
—Colin Farrell
I swear, the reason for full moons is so the gods can more clearly see the mischief they create.
—Michael J. Sullivan |
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In my previous newsletter, "It's Not a Blue Moon, Part I" , I noted a few reasons why we should ignore the contemporary, false definition of "Blue Moon" in favor of the older one. The proper definition is: a Blue Moon is the third full moon in a season containing four full moons (where a "season" is equinox to solstice, or solstice to equinox).
As I noted then:
There was a year not so long ago when we had two full moons in January, none in February, and two again in March. A recurrence isn't rare if it happens twice in three calendar months. That by itself should have ended the mistaken notion that calls a "blue moon" the second full moon in a Gregorian calendar month... but it didn't.
So, to sum up, you may have been hearing that there's a Blue Moon at the end of this month. But in fact, there is not; the next Blue Moon will occur almost exactly one year from the release of this editorial, on August 19, 2024.
So, this week, I'll present two more arguments against the false Gregorian definition, and then go on a digression.
On occasion, the second full moon in a Gregorian calendar month (false Blue Moon definition) will occur on the last day of the month. At least, it occurs on that date based on your local time zone. However, that same full moon will occur on the first day of the next month in other time zones. This means that folks in those time zones will mark the following full moon, at the end of that next month, as the false Blue Moon.
For example, say there's a year with a full moon occurrence at 11:00 pm Eastern time on December 31. Pretty awesome to have a full moon lighting your New Year's celebrations, right? The misinformation on the internet will label this as a Blue Moon, because there will have already been one near the beginning of December. However, when that occurs, it's 4 am on New Year's Day in the UK, meaning that for them, there was only one full moon in December, but two in January. They'd call this second January full moon a "blue moon" (but, to reiterate, that's based on misinformation).
Bad enough we've got a language divide; we don't have to compound the problem by being unable to agree on which full moon is the Blue Moon.
This problem goes away entirely when using the true definition of Blue Moon. Sure, it may occur on August 19 in some time zones and August 20 in others (as will be the case for the next true Blue Moon, in 2024), but it's still the same full moon.
Okay, one final argument, for now.
The Gregorian calendar is very useful for coordinating things across different countries in different time zones. It's standardized and very accurate to use for solar returns. But it's not universal. Different cultures use different calendars for different purposes. It's well known, for example, that China's cultural calendar is lunisolar; that is, it's based on phases of the moon, with intercalary months ('leap months') to keep the moons roughly lined up with the seasons. While this calendar has gone through modifications over time (just as the Gregorian calendar was a modification of the Julian), it's used by one of the largest cultures in the world.
The Hebrew calendar is also lunisolar. These calendars set the times for certain major cultural holidays, which is why, for example, Chinese New year moves around on the Gregorian calendar, as does Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) and Pesach (Passover).
Other cultures use purely lunar calendars. The Hijri (Islamic) calendar, foregoing the intercalary month and producing a year about 10-11 days shorter than the solar year, is one such purely lunar calendar. This is why Ramadan also shifts compared to the solar Gregorian calendar, and it can occur in any season.
While the concept of a Blue Moon is culturally Western, the true definition depends not on which calendar you use, which always incorporates some element of arbitrariness (do we start the year in the winter, spring, summer, or autumn?), but on observable, regular astronomical phenomena: the solstices and equinoxes, and the phases of the moon. It's not universal in the sense that it would mean anything beyond the immediate environs of Earth, but as we're still stuck on this planet for the time being, it's something that all religions and cultures could agree upon, should they be so inclined.
Which of course means it'll never happen, but I can keep trying.
A final word on the subject: a "Blue Moon" can also refer to an atmospheric effect that makes the moon appear literally blue, but that's irrelevant to the calendar discussion, as it's unpredictable in the long term.
Okay, one last diversion before I give this up until next year, when an actual Blue Moon will occur:
You'll also hear hype about "supermoons." I don't object to this terminology, but I did want to clear something up: a supermoon occurs when the full moon is near perigee.
That may not be clear yet, but bear with me here. All orbits are elliptical. Some are more elliptical than others. The lunar orbit of Earth is no exception. When the moon is closest to earth in its orbit, that's called perigee; at its furthest point, apogee (the suffix -gee comes from the same root as geo-). So an apogee and a perigee happen in every orbit the moon makes.
At perigee, the moon is measurably larger in the sky, just as anything appears larger when it's closer to you. Some claim they can see the difference; I can't, even though I look at that orb every chance I get. As I said, it happens every orbit, but the difference is most noticeable when the lunar disk is fully illuminated; that is, when a full moon occurs at, or close to, perigee. People have taken to calling this a "supermoon." I don't know if there's a name for the full moon at apogee; I'd propose "micromoon."
This difference, combined with a similar effect caused by the elliptical orbit of the Earth around the Sun, is why we sometimes get annular, or "ring-of-fire" solar eclipses: the apparent angular sizes of the sun and moon vary by a bit as they dance around in space.
While I've made stamping out the misinformation concerning the Blue Moon a priority in my life, I do have one higher priority: encouraging people, no matter where they live, to look up. Whatever you call it, a full moon is always a beautiful sight, and one that can be enjoyed even in the depths of a light-polluted city (provided, of course, it's not cloudy).
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In my last editorial, "It's Not a Blue Moon, Part I" , I started what I finished this time around.
citruspocket  : That was a really interesting read, thank you!
...I love the phrase "leap moon", it made me chuckle. That's a tidbit which has to find its way into a story or poem sometime..!
I don't think I can take full credit for that one (but I will if you insist). The Hebrew calendar is lunisolar, so it incorporates the occasional leap month to keep months roughly aligned with the seasons. The true definition of Blue Moon is similar to that.
So that's it for me for this month, and about this topic for now. See you in four weeks! Until then, watch the skies, and
DREAM ON!!!
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Fantasy: August 23, 2023 Issue [#12140]
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