Bump, for Total Lunar Eclipse on Wednesday Morning at… 4:18AM PDT?"?"?
I saw the Starlink satellites last Saturday night in the MSP area. That is all.
Bump…
General question: what amount of time between events constitutes “rare” in astronomy?
We get “blue moons” (actual definition the third moon of four in one season, NOT the second moon on one calendar month, discussed in the next post) once every, well, blue moon, or two to three years. Some articles I’ve read (apparently I’ve clicked on too many moon articles, so Google keeps feeding me) call this “rare.”
Anywho, I don’t think once every couple of years is rare. Solar eclipses in a specific area are rare, but they happen two to four times a year SOMEWHERE on the planet.
I usually struggle to get excited for things moon-related (with the exception of a solar eclipse or people actually going there).
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Blue Moon:
Apparently, someone at some point defined a blue moon incorrectly as the second moon in a single month. Eventually it became the popular definition, even in the dictionary and a Trivial Pursuit question.
From Google definition:
blue moon
noun
noun: blue moon ; plural noun: blue moons
a phenomenon whereby the moon appears bluish owing to smoke or dust particles in the atmosphere.
“people saw blue moons for years after the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa”
a second full moon in a calendar month.
From wiki:
The March 1946 Sky and Telescope article “Once in a Blue Moon” by James Hugh Pruett misinterpreted the 1937 Maine Farmers’ Almanac . “Seven times in 19 years there were—and still are—13 full moons in a year. This gives 11 months with one full moon each and one with two. This second in a month, so I interpret it, was called Blue Moon.” Widespread adoption of the definition of a “blue moon” as the second full moon in a month followed its use on the popular radio program StarDate on January 31, 1980[2] and in a question in the Trivial Pursuit game in 1986.[5]
Anywho, I got to thinking about this. Seems a second full moon could happen in any month, but now-called “seasonal” blue moons can happen only in Feb, May, Aug, and Nov.
From Google:
We list upcoming seasonal Blue Moon dates – following the August 22, 2021 Blue Moon – below:
- August 19, 2024.
- May 20, 2027.
- August 24, 2029.
- August 21, 2032.
- May 22, 2035.
- May 18, 2038.
- August 22, 2040.
Also, from Google, same search!:
What is a Blue Moon?
- Oct 2, 2020. Oct 31, 2020. October 2020 Details >
- Aug 1, 2023. Aug 31, 2023. August 2023 Details >
- May 1, 2026. May 31, 2026. …
- Dec 2, 2028. Dec 31, 2028. …
- Sep 1, 2031. Sep 30, 2031. …
- Jul 1, 2034. Jul 31, 2034. …
- Jan 2, 2037. Jan 31, 2037. …
- Mar 2, 2037. Mar 31, 2037.
Those last two don’t seem too far apart, but the coupling of them is quite rare.
Well, people shouldn’t. But, there’s all kinds. The species is not fully out of caves, mentally.
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Not as rare as one would think, owing to Feb having 28/29 days.
O
Caught a foggy glimpse of the partial lunar eclipse last night.
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We all excited for the James Webb telescope launch next month!?
I looked for the moon at 1am and couldn’t find it. I assume that was because of the eclipse. It was a bit foggy though.
Yes to the telescope! Can’t wait to see more pictures from the beginning of time
Well, it wasn’t a total eclipse. It still would have been a bright moon, just not all of it (less than half). That’s what I saw, around midnight.
Who is going to be looking for Comet Leonard this week?
I don’t think so. Seems extremely faint.
Saw a news story about a YouTube video of our Solar System. But there is some innumeracy in the story.
No idea how to do a paste using my phone, so I’ll link later.
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If you’re on an iPhone, within the story, at the urh corner are probably three dots within a circle. Click on that. A menu should pop up and one of the selections s/b “Copy Link”. Click on that.
Then, mosey on back over to this (or whatever) GoA thread. Click on “Reply”, of course. Then, tap in the empty space and you should get an option to paste. Click on that. Type whatever other words of wisdom that you’d like to share with us, then hit “Reply” one more time.
Boom. Another quality post by DTNF.
Sorry. Not an iBot.
Maths turns out right, and I was the innumerate one.
