"Long Night Moon" also a "Blue Moon"
FROM TODAY'S PRINT EDITIONS:
The moon is full at 12:28 p.m. today, rising over Baltimore at 4:38 p.m. As the third full moon since the autumn equinox, this one’s called the Long Night Moon, or the Moon Before Yule.
But you could apply the same names to the next full moon, which occurs Dec. 21, just 15 hours BEFORE the winter solstice. As the third full moon in a rare season with four, this one fits the original definition for a “Blue Moon.”
Popular usage has since attached the label to the second full moon in one calendar month.
(SUN PHOTO: Karl Merton Ferron, 2004)
Posted by Frank Roylance at 6:00 AM | Permalink
| Comments (1)
Categories: From the Sun's print edition
Categories: From the Sun's print edition
Comments
My spouse thought the moon really was blue until I told him he was looking through the tint on the upper part of the windshield! Luckily you had given us the real reason for this name. His comment reminded me of the time I was flying at night at 41,000 feet with another pilot, we saw the Dog Star on the horizon. He said what's that? I replied, it's Sirius. He turned and asked, how serious is it? I laughed the rest of the flight.
Posted by: Larry Esser | November 23, 2010 9:08 PM