Twice in a Blue Moon
You might see some fireworks, some confetti, or even a Ball dropping if you’re in Times Square. But be sure to look past all of the distractions and take a good look at the moon.
This year, when you look to the sky on New Year’s Eve, you’ll see a full moon. A full moon on the last night of the year is fairly rare and will surely make for some scenic photographs, but this full moon is particularly noteworthy. The full moon on Thursday night will be a Blue Moon.
The term Blue Moon has absolutely nothing to do with color, but is still extremely rare. Blue Moon instead refers to when a full moon occurs twice in one calendar month. The last full moon was on December 2, making the full moon on December 31 the second one this month.
A Blue Moon has absolutely no astronomical significance, but is still a remarkable occurrence. The moon takes 29.5 days to go through a cycle, meaning that we see 12 full moons during most years. With twelve months in a calendar year, we normally see one full moon every month. Having two full moons in a single month is very rare and only happens about once every 2.5 years.
In fact, the last time we saw a blue moon was in May of 2007, which was almost exactly two and a half years ago. But an even rarer event is seeing a full moon on New Year’s Eve. In recent years, the closest we have come to having a full moon on New Year’s Eve was in 2001, when the night of December 30 was a full moon. To find the last time there was a full moon on the last night of the year, you would have to look back to December 31, 1990 – which was coincidentally also a Blue Moon.
Remember to take a look up as you’re popping champagne and ringing in the new year on Thursday night, because it’s not something you’re going to experience again for a long time. A Blue Moon on New Year’s Eve only occurs once every 19 years, which means you’ll have to wait until 2028 to see the next one.
