//// Happy BLUE MOON
  everyone....

  please celebrate w/ a glass of kefir or kombucha!!!

  blessings
  mark////

____________________________________________________________

...I was just reading another group post on Blue Moons so I went
back and copied it and am sharing it w/ all of you interested in
Blue Moons.
Pam
P.S.  HAPPY BLUE MOONING !!

Although the full moon occurring Saturday, July 31, 2004, will look
like an
ordinary full moon, it will actually be a bit extraordinary-a blue
moon.
What is a Blue Moon?
There are in fact two definitions for a blue moon. According to the
more recent
definition, a blue moon is the second full moon in a calendar month.
For a blue
moon to occur, the first of the full moons must appear at or near
the beginning
of the month so that the second will fall within the same month (the
average
span between two moons is 29.5 days). July 2004 will have two full
moons: the
first on July 2, the second on July 31-that second full moon is
called the blue
moon.

The Other Kind of Blue Moon
An older definition for the blue moon is recorded in early issues of
the Maine
Farmer's Almanac. According to this definition, the blue moon is the
third full
moon in a season that has four full moons. Why would one want to
identify the
third full moon in a season of four full moons? The answer is
complex, and has
to do with the Christian ecclesiastical calendar.

Some years have an extra full moon-thirteen instead of twelve. Since
the
identity of the moons was important in the ecclesiastical calendar
(the Paschal
Moon, for example, used to be crucial for determining the date of
Easter), a
year with a thirteenth moon skewed the calendar, since there were
names for only
twelve moons. By identifying the extra, thirteenth moon as a blue
moon, the
ecclesiastical calendar was able to stay on track.

For a fuller explanation see
http://www.inconstantmoon.com/cyc_blue.htm. For
more background information on the controversy over the two
definitions of blue
moon, see the Sky and Telescope article, "What's a Blue Moon?" In it
they
explain how the two different definitions of a blue moon came about-
including
their own role in introducing the second, modern definition.

A Star Rating for the Modern Blue Moon
Related Links
Perpetual Calendar

Astronomical Outlook
Other resources on blue moons:
Blue Moon Page

"What's a Blue Moon?" from Sky & Telescope

Although Sky & Telescope calls the modern blue moon
definitition "trendy" and a
"mistake," the fact that there is an older, preexisting (and more
complicated)
definition does not necessarily make it the more interesting or
meaningful
definition. Charting the "third full moon in four full moons" in a
season isn't
everyone's idea of an fascinating enterprise. The modern, "trendy"
definition,
however, points to an intriguing astronomical phenomenon-every so
often two
moons can manage to position themselves in the same month. Given
that full moons
occur once every 29.5 days, this is quite an accomplishment!

How Often Does a Blue Moon Occur?
Over the next twenty years there will be a total of 17 blue moons,
with an
almost equal number of both types of blue moons occurring. No blue
moon of any
kind will occur in the years 2006, 2011, 2014, and 2017.

The more recent phenomenon, where the blue moon is considered to be
the second
full moon in a calendar month, last occurred on Nov. 30, 2001. Two
full moons in
one month may occur in any month out of the year except for
February, which is
shorter than the lunar cycle.

The other, older blue moon event, which happens when there are four
full moons
in a season, last occured on Nov. 20, 2002. Since this type of blue
moon is
reckoned according to the seasons, it can only occur in February,
May, August,
or November, about a month before the equinox or the solstice.

Twice in a Blue Moon
The rare phenomenon of two blue moons (using the more recent
definitition)
occurring in the same year happens approximately once every 19
years. 1999 was
the last time a blue moon appeared twice, in January and March.

Blue Moons 2004-2010
July 31, 2004
Second full moon in month

August 2005
Third full moon in a season of four full moons

June 2007
Second full moon in month

May 2008
Third full moon in a season of four full moons

Dec. 2009
Second full moon in month

Nov. 2010
Third full moon in a season of four full moons


The months of the double blue moons are almost always January and
March. That is
because the short month that falls in between them, February, is a
key
ingredient in this once-every-nineteen-year phenomenon. For January
and March to
each have two full moons, it's necessary for February to have none
at all. Since
February is usually 28 days long, and the average span between full
moons is
29.5 days, if a full moon occurs at the end of January, it's
possible for the
next full moon to skip February entirely and fall in the beginning
of March.

Once in a Blue Moon
"Blue moon" appears to have been a colloquial expression long before
it
developed its calendrical senses. According to the Oxford English
Dictionary,
the first reference to a blue moon comes from a proverb recorded in
1528:

If they say the moon is blue,
We must believe that it is true.
Saying the moon was blue was equivalent to saying the moon was made
of green (or
cream) cheese; it indicated an obvious absurdity. In the 19th
century, the
phrase until a blue moon developed, meaning "never." The phrase,
once in a blue
moon today has come to mean "every now and then" or "rarely"-whether
it gained
that meaning through association with the lunar event remains
uncertain.





---------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------