ORANGE BLUE MOON: Some people insist that last night’s full moon was not Blue. They’re right. It was orange:
“This was, hands down, the most spectacular moonrise I have ever seen–an orange Blue moon!” says photographer Doug Zubenel of De Soto, Kansas.
Orange moons are run-of-the-mill atmospheric optics. Earth’s atmosphere acts as a dirty lens, distorting and reddening the Moon whenever it hangs too close to the horizon. Orange moons can be seen almost every night if you know when to look. Orange Blue moons are a little more unusual. They come along once every 2.7 years, on average. Next up: August 31, 2012. Mark your calendar and, meanwhile, browse the links below.
more Blue Moon shots: from Darrell Oake of Dartmouth NS Canada; from Stephen O’Meara of Volcano, Hawaii; from Derek Weston of Iowa City, Iowa; from Rob Stammes of Laukvik, Norway; from Valentin Grigore of Targoviste, Romania;
BLUE MOON ECLIPSE: Blue moons–rare. Blue moons on New Year’s Eve–really rare. A lunar eclipse of a Blue Moon on New Year’s Eve–well, that’s just ridiculous.
Yet that’s exactly what happened yesterday in Europe, Asia, Africa and parts of Alaska. The Blue moon on New Year’s Eve passed through the outskirts of Earth’s shadow, producing this lunareclipse:
“The skies over Alaska were crystal-clear Thursday morning, affording onlookers a nice view of the 8% lunar eclipse of the Blue moon,” says photographer Dave Parkhurst on the Knik Arm of the Cook Inlet. “It was a nice way to start the last day of the year.”
For the record, the average annual rate of blue Moons is 0.37 per year. The rate of Blue moons on New Year’s Eve is 0.05 per year. The rate of lunar eclipses of Blue moons on New Year’s Eve is 0.01 per year. Stay tuned for a very rare photo gallery.
–Agencies