When is the next full moon? Will it be blue?

Earthlings love to look at the moon. We love the moon so much; we write movies, songs and poems en masse that contain the name of the Earth’s super satellite. One example is the fact that one of the best-selling record albums of all time is Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.”

Despite her romance-inspiring genius, the moon has another side to her personality. Werewolves, mood swings, and even wild behavior are often attributed to the full moon. How many times have you heard the question bitterly, “Is it a full moon tonight?”

Still, the moon is important and interesting to all of us who live in view of its majestic beauty. We never tire of wondering about it. In this article we will talk about the moon, its cycles and the phenomenon known as “blue moon”. Then we’ll even let you know when you can expect the next full moons.

Full moons on different days.

Where you live on earth rarely makes a difference as to whether the moon is full, quarter or new. This is because it takes almost a month for the moon to travel around the earth and it only takes the earth a day to go around once. So in comparison, the moon sits in the sky and waits for us to see what phase it is in. Still, there are times when the moon will be full on different calendar days in different areas of the earth.

Once in a blue moon

Technically, it takes the moon an average of 29.53 days to travel around the Earth. Most months are longer than this. So it is possible to have more than one full moon in a month. When this happens, the second moon is called the “blue calendar moon.” Of course, this is a simple rule. So let’s complicate it!

The Farmer’s Almanac defines a blue moon as the third full moon in a four full moon season. This is the correct definition of blue moon. Since a season lasts three months, most seasons will have three full moons. However, sometimes a season will have four. When this happens, the third is a true blue moon.

So here are two definitions of a blue moon, but the one for a blue moon calendar doesn’t describe the true meaning of a blue moon. This is why:

Sometimes February will not have full moons and January and March will have two. In this case, you have two blue calendar moons in the same year. However, there cannot be more than one in a year or it would not be such a rare event. Using the Farmer’s Almanac description, there may be a maximum of one per year.

The orbit of the moon

The orbit of the moon is not in the same plane as the orbit of the earth around the sun. If so, every time we have a new moon we would have a solar eclipse, and each time we have a full moon we would have a lunar eclipse. Instead, the moon travels on a track that goes far above and far below the earth. Still, it will sometimes travel between the sun and the earth, and in this case, there will be an eclipse.

Full moon schedule

Below is a calendar of some of the full moons in our future. They were calculated using Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

2008:

January 22, February 22, March 21, April 20, May 20, June 18, July 18, August 16, September 15, October 14, November 13, December 12.

2009:

January 11, February 9, March 11, April 9, May 9, June 7, July 7, August 6, September 4, October 4, November 2, December 2 *, 31 from December *.

2010:

January 30, February 28, March 30, April 28, May 27, June 26, July 26, August 24, September 23, October 23, November 21, December 21.

* December 2, 2009 is a blue moon as defined by the Farmer’s Almanac, but December 31 is a calendar blue moon.