Oolite Bulletins

It’s a ‘blue moon’ tonight (quite rare, the next is not until 2028) and it’s partially eclipsed as well.

I might as well add a blue supergiant and nebula while I’m here.
The blue supergiant is Rigel and the nebula is...

Get the tea brewing…


http://blog.deepskycolors.com/archive/2 ... Rigel.html


Happy New Year to all.

Ah - another astronomy enthusiast! (see profile).

That's an excellent picture - did you take that yourself? All I have at the moment is a 4 inch matsukov - it DOES have a good clock drive though. I haven't used it in ages.

I know what a "blue moon" is, but it's been a while since I read about any folklore associated with it.

Wish I could take a pic like that. No, it's this guy, Rogelio Bernal Andreo.

http://blog.deepskycolors.com/about.html

the Moon is very interesting, especially the south polar region

the "blue moon" event is just a result of our calendar, as newspapers have been reminding us here, and probably everywhere else on Earth, too, but I have always been intrigued by a type of New (or Old) Moon, probably not visible in towns/cities, and only rarely apparent in the darker environments, when the moon sets (or rises) so close to the sun that virtually none of its illuminated crescent is detectable. Does anyone know if this has a name (other than "earthlight" "newMoon" or "oldMoom" I mean)? It needs to be very low on the horizon, of course, and you need to look for it (e.g. just after an solar eclipse, or something).

Damn you brits! We could not see it here in the US. When Illinois is capital of the world, and all of it's inhabitants are kings, you'll pay!

I am wondering about the "Blue Moon" hype. What's it about? Having two full moons within one calender month is--as far as I can see--of no astronomical or other significance whatsoever. So what?

I think its just like new year. Its a reasonably rare occurrence, so its an excuse to have a bit of a party.

The months are pretty arbitrary, so things happening twice in one is also clearly pretty arbitrary.

I also believe it's of some minor significance to certain neopagan religions, specifically moon-goddess based ones. But I could be wrong on that one....

If they say the moon is blue,
We must believe that it is true.

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bluemoon1.html