Night Sky Astronomy

Posts Tagged ‘full moon’

Here is a nice pic I took of the Full Moon on July 2nd 2015. I took it as it was showing off some strange colours, as if it was a Super Moon or starting some sort of Eclipse. Anyway, it looked quite different to normal so thought I would try and get it on camera, so please see below for the best pic I got. 😉

Full Moon

Here is a photo that I took last March (2014) whilst sitting in my car with my family, eating Fish and Chips, at Devils Point in Plymouth. The photograph is looking back over Plymouth Hoe towards Mount Batten and Jenny Cliff.

I took it on my phone as I hadn’t taken my proper camera as I wasn’t expecting to need it, so I was quite annoyed when this scene unfolded before my eyes. My phone doesn’t produce the best photographs when it is dark, but I though this one came out pretty good!

It was a full Moon at about 17:30 so it wasn’t fully dark, but dark enough so that the light of the very bright Moon glistened off of the sea, directly in front of us. It looked absolutely beautiful, especially when a few clouds started to go across the Moon, which made it look somewhat magical.

It was pure luck that we were there at this time, but we were all glad of it and enjoyed the view until we left (and also the Fish and Chips that were delicious!).

On August 31st, we will see the next Blue Moon.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean that the moon will be the colour blue, although that would be cool, but it means that there will be two full moons in a single month. The first full moon of the month occurred on the 1st August so there is enough time left in the month for the next full moon to come around. This can happen every 2-3 years, so isn’t actually out of the ordinary. It is also possible for there to be double Blue Moons in a single year which last happened in 1999 when there were two full moons in January and March but no full moon in February. The next time this will happen will be 2018.

There are actually two definitions of a blue moon. The first is what I have written above which originated in the 1940’s, but the other is when there are 4 full moons in a single season (Winter, Spring, Summer or Autumn). The third full moon out of the four is then called the Blue Moon. This came about centuries ago in folklore through old Farmers’ stories. The next one of these Blue Moons will be on August 21st 2013.

But whichever definition you prefer, either way, it is a special month for our companion, the Moon!