We have all heard of a “blue moon”, the phrase originating in the 60s and recently terms like “super moon” and “blood moon” have become increasingly buzz-worthy as well. But have you heard of a Super, Blue Blood Moon? Well this extremely rare event is set to take place Wednesday morning, January 31st and promises to be quite the spectacle…if you can see it.
The Super, Blue Blood Moon combines three lunar events that are on their own are rare but by combining them you get something not seen in any of our lifetimes. A super moon occurs when the moon is in perigee, or the closest point in its orbit to the earth and it appears 14% brighter on average. A blood moon is a fancy word describing the color of the moon when a lunar eclipse occurs and light goes around the earth to light up the moon a bright blood orange/red color. Blue moon, however, does not refer to the moon’s color (no the moon will not be purple tomorrow morning). Blue moons occur every couple of years when two full moons occur in one month.
The last time this occurred was more than 150 years ago. In 1866, a lunar eclipse and blue moon happened at the same moment but the super moon didn’t occur until 12 days later so it was even before that. Now the good news is that NASA projects the next Super, Blue Blood Moon to occur much sooner than that, it should be in about 19 years so mark your calendars.
It might be 19 years before we get to see the next one because as of right now, Wednesday morning is expected to be a cloudy one. The best time to see it will be from 6:52am-8:08am.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7sMHRqqyanJOewaqx0meaqKVfrLKiwMeeqWivlZbBqbHRZpmlp5dkwLa8xKtkm6SlmnqjuM6om2aln6S7bq%2FOppmippWoerW00Z6cZpyZm7OmvsSnq2akpaOus3nSqZycrJGYuaa%2FjKKlraddpLume5htbG1xYWl9dns%3D