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Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 5:08 am
by APOD Robot
Image Blue Moon Eclipse

Explanation: The International Year of Astronomy 2009 ended with a Blue Moon and a partial lunar eclipse, as the second Full Moon of December grazed the Earth's shadow on December 31st. The New Year's Eve Blue Moon eclipse was visible throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and parts of Alaska, captured in this two exposure composite in cloudy skies over Saint Bonnet de Mure, France. Playing across the Moon's southern reaches, the edge of Earth's umbra, or dark central shadow, appears on the right side along with the prominent ray crater Tycho. At maximum eclipse, the umbra covered only about 8 percent of the diameter of the lunar disk.

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Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 5:18 am
by neufer
APOD Robot wrote:Image Blue Moon Eclipse

The New Year's Eve Blue Moon eclipse was visible throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and parts of Alaska,
captured in this two exposure composite in cloudy skies over Saint Bonnet de Mure, France.
Saint-Bonnet-de-Mure: 45°41′29″N / 5°01′48″E
Saint Exupéry Airport: 45°43′32″N / 5°04′52″E

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Prince wrote:
Image

<<In The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry talks about being stranded in the desert beside a crashed aircraft. This account clearly draws on his own experience in the Sahara, an ordeal he described in detail in his book Wind, Sand and Stars. [74 years ago] on December 30, 1935 at 14:45, after 18 hours and 36 minutes in the air, Saint-Exupéry, along with his navigator André Prévot, crashed in the Libyan Sahara desert. They were attempting to break the record for the Paris-to-Saigon flight and win a prize of 150,000 francs. Both survived the crash, only to face rapid dehydration. Their maps were primitive and ambiguous. Lost in the desert with a few grapes, a single orange, and some wine, the pair had only one day's worth of liquid. After the first day, they had nothing. They both began to see mirages, which were quickly followed by more vivid hallucinations. Between the second and the third day, they were so dehydrated that they stopped sweating altogether. Finally, on the fourth day [January 2, 1936], a Bedouin on a camel discovered them and administered a native rehydration treatment that saved Saint-Exupéry and Prévot's lives.>>

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 3:21 pm
by spicaman
it looks to me that the clouds are behind the moon. whats up with that?

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 3:34 pm
by geckzilla
That happens sometimes when the clouds are so tenuous that the moon's light overpowers them. But I agree it looks odd. It looks the photographer took two or more shots of the scene and then combined them later digitally. Hard to tell, though.

Petit-Prince (moon)

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 4:05 pm
by neufer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petit-Prince_%28moon%29 wrote:
(45) Eugenia I Petit-Prince is the larger, outer moon of asteroid 45 Eugenia. It was discovered in 1998 by astronomers at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Petit-Prince was named in 2003 after Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's character The Little Prince, who lives on an asteroid called B612 and was in turn based on the Prince Imperial, son of Napoleon III of France and Empress Eugenia.

Petit-Prince is 13 km in diameter, compared to 45 Eugenia's 214 km. It takes five days to complete an orbit around Eugenia. Petit-Prince was the first asteroid moon to be discovered by a ground-based telescope. Previously, the only known moon of an asteroid was Dactyl, discovered by the Galileo space probe around 243 Ida.

Code: Select all

Satellite of 	45 Eugenia
Semi-major axis 	1184 ± 12 km
Eccentricity 	0.0100 ± 0.0002
Orbital period 	4.766 ± 0.001 d
Average orbital speed 	18.1 m/s
Inclination 	8.0 ± 0.1° (with respect to Eugenia equator)

Physical characteristics
Dimensions 	~ 13 km (estimate)
Mass 	~ 1.2 × 1015 kg (estimate)
Equatorial escape velocity 	~ 5 m/s (estimate)
-----------------------------------------
46610 Besixdouze is an asteroid belonging to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The name was suggested by F. Hemery and J. Grygar in 1993, as a reference to the French short story The Little Prince, where the title character lived on an asteroid named B612. In Lutz D. Schmadel's reference book titled Dictionary of Minor Planets, the asteroid is mistakenly stated to have first been noticed in 1909, and mentioned in a 1920 astronomical presentation, although this was actually the fictional history of the planet's namesake in the story by Antoine de Saint Exupéry.
46610 is the decimal equivalent of the hexadecimal number B612.
-----------------------------------------
612 Veronika is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. In The Little Prince, the famous story written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the asteroid from which the main character comes is identified with the name B 612.
-----------------------------------------
2578 Saint-Exupéry is a small main belt asteroid, which was discovered by Tamara M. Smirnova on November 2, 1975.
-----------------------------------------

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 4:06 pm
by Chris Peterson
spicaman wrote:it looks to me that the clouds are behind the moon. whats up with that?
It happens with meteors, too. I've got lots of images where it looks like a meteor is moving below the clouds, even though this never happens.

I think we're just accustomed to thinking of clouds as opaque. When they are thin and there's something bright behind them, we interpret the scattered light around the light source (which is forward scatter) as simple illumination from the front.

Image

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 4:23 pm
by geckzilla
I think what really gets me in this photo is the shadow on the moon. I'm so used to the shadow on the moon being no darker than the surrounding atmosphere. I'm not sure what to think of it.

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 7:16 pm
by Ayiomamitis
Further to Chris' comment, I can also confirm the same thing with my "Grazing the Umbra" sequence and which was taken in the presence of thin high cirrus clouds and which you (almost) would never tell by looking at my result: http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-Eclipses-2009-12-31b.htm ... if you look VERY closely, there is a white rim around some of the lunar disks and which was caused by relatively thicker cirrus clouds whereas other disks in the same sequence do not have the white rim and which was due to thinner cirrus clouds.

In retrospect, I am delighted at my result since the cirrus clouds were an eyesore visually and only the overwhelming brightness of the moon helped them "disappear" due to the high dynamic range of the overall scene.

Happy New Year!

Anthony.

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 7:24 pm
by rstevenson
spicaman wrote:it looks to me that the clouds are behind the moon. whats up with that?
geckzilla wrote:That happens sometimes when the clouds are so tenuous that the moon's light overpowers them. But I agree it looks odd. It looks the photographer took two or more shots of the scene and then combined them later digitally. Hard to tell, though.
As the info below the photo says, "... captured in this two exposure composite in cloudy skies ..."

I like the result. It gives an odd 3-dimensionality to the image, though the moon does look like it's below the clouds.

Rob

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 7:32 pm
by geckzilla
:lol: I missed the description again... :oops:
I can't help it, I usually look at the APOD really really late at night or right when I wake up in the morning and my eyes look at the picture first and then the hyperlinks in the description pretty much steal all the attention from what it really says.

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 9:25 pm
by boneking
There is really no such thing as a "blue moon".

http://www.skynews.ca/pages/bluemoon.html

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 9:34 pm
by Chris Peterson
boneking wrote:There is really no such thing as a "blue moon".
Well, actually there is. Just because the term is a recent addition to our language, it has become rather solidly embedded in common usage. The definition of blue moon as the second full moon in a calendar month appears to be here to stay. People like the concept.

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 10:19 pm
by bystander
"What's a Blue Moon?", Sky and Telescope, May 1999
The trendy definition of "Blue Moon" as the second full Moon in a month is a mistake.
http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... 28#p113828

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 11:59 pm
by Storm_norm
one word came to my mind when I looked at this image.

STEREOGRAM

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:58 am
by MississaugaMike
APOD may want to review an article by Canadian astronomer Terence Dickenson in the Nov/Dec 2009 issue of Sky News*. I would also like to suggest that although this may not rank up there with other popular types misinformation such as the 'Mars will be the same apparent size as a full moon on it's next closest approach' variety, APOD could still assist Terence in his quest to reverse (and not reinforce) this apparently modern day urban legend-esque version of the blue moon definition. How about an APOD focusing on these types of confusing 'facts' and how they divert the general public from a better understanding of reality as we know it.
* Disclaimer: I have not independently confirmed TD's research, but I trust the source.

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 1:15 am
by geckzilla
Mike, you may not have noticed he already has some fans posting in this very thread. ;)

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 4:46 am
by Chris Peterson
MississaugaMike wrote:APOD may want to review an article by Canadian astronomer Terence Dickenson...
Dickenson usually does a better job than this. Of course, there's nothing bogus about a blue moon, and it isn't urban legend. A blue moon is the second full moon in a calendar month. It doesn't matter in the slightest if the term came about because of a mistake- if we excluded things from our language on that basis, we'd probably lose some of our richest expressions. The simple fact is that people have been using "blue moon" in this way for three decades, and it is only becoming more widely used with the passage of time. It is an interesting event that occurs rarely enough to attract attention, but often enough that people will see quite a few in a lifetime. It's a curiosity that deserves a name, and "blue moon" works just fine. I'm happy to see coverage of such things in the popular press; anything that turns people's eyes to the sky is a good thing.

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 5:50 am
by neufer
Chris Peterson wrote:
MississaugaMike wrote:APOD may want to review an article by Canadian astronomer Terence Dickenson...
Of course, there's nothing bogus about a blue moon, and it isn't urban legend. A blue moon is the second full moon in a calendar month. It doesn't matter in the slightest if the term came about because of a mistake- if we excluded things from our language on that basis, we'd probably lose some of our richest expressions. The simple fact is that people have been using "blue moon" in this way for three decades, and it is only becoming more widely used with the passage of time. It is an interesting event that occurs rarely enough to attract attention, but often enough that people will see quite a few in a lifetime. It's a curiosity that deserves a name, and "blue moon" works just fine. I'm happy to see coverage of such things in the popular press; anything that turns people's eyes to the sky is a good thing.
"Yf they saye the mone is belewe, We must beleve that it is true."

...WRONG! (And Pluto is NOT a planet).

It is ridiculous to define a "blue moon" as something
that depends on what time zone one lives in.

Trivial Pursuit does not & should not define the TRUTH!
  • -------------------------------------------------------------
    George Costanza: Who invaded Spain in the Eighth Century?

    Bubble Boy: That's a joke - the Moors.

    George: Oh no - I'm so sorry, it's the Moops. The correct answer is the Moops.

    Bubble Boy: Moops? Let me see that. That's not Moops, you jerk. It's Moors. It's a misprint.

    George: Sorry, the card says Moops.

    Bubble Boy: It doesn't matter. It's Moors - there's no Moops.

    George: It's Moops.

    Bubble Boy: Moors!

    George: Moops!

    George: Help! Someone!

    Bubble Boy: There's no Moops, you idiot.
    ------------------------------------------------------
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/269500.html wrote:
<<The 'blue moon' expression itself is old and dates back to mediaeval England. For example, a work by William Barlow, the Bishop of Chichester, the Treatyse of the Buryall of the Masse, 1528, which is more commonly known by its first line, Rede me and be nott wrothe, For I say no things but trothe included a reference to a blue moon:

"Yf they saye the mone is belewe, We must beleve that it is true."

A blue moon was a synonym for absurdity - considered to be as likely as the moon being made out of green cheese. This imagery was called on in John Frith's exhaustively entitled essay A pistle to the christen reader; the reuelation of antichrist: antithesis wherein are compared togeder Christes actes and oure holye father the Popes, 1529

"They wold make men beleue... that ye mone is made of grene chese."
------------------------------------------------------
http://www.evolvingdoor.ca/miscarticles/bluemoon.php

<<The current popular definition of a Blue Moon is “the second Full Moon in the same calendar month.” But just figuring out when any Full Moon takes place can be tricky business. Time zones must be taken into account, which could change the day and even the month that it falls on. My Canadian calendar for 2004 says there is a Full Moon on July 31 at 2:04 PM, Eastern Daylight Time, but a calendar sold in Tokyo, for instance, would show it on August 1 at 3:05 AM. We know there are also Full Moons on July 2 and August 29 (or 30, in the far east time zones), so depending on where you live the second Moon will either be on July 31 or August 30. Does this really mean the “Blue Moon” is different for different parts of the world? Well, yes and no.

The deeper problem is that the popular definition of “Blue Moon”—the second Full Moon in a calendar month—is based on misinterpreted information that was published in a Sky and Telescope magazine article in 1946! Ironically, it was a 1999 article in the same magazine that discovered and corrected the mistake, but by that time the media, Internet, and even the Trivial Pursuit game, had proliferated the incorrect definition and now most of the world understands an incorrect, if persistent, definition of “Blue Moon.”

So Just What Is A "Blue Moon?"

An older traditional meaning of “Blue Moon” goes back to the 19th century and means the third Full Moon in a season which has four Full Moons. So what, you say? Well, each season consists of 3 months, typically with one Full Moon per month, so having four Full Moons land in a 3-month season is something that happens, quite literally, only once in a Blue Moon. The Maine Farmers’ Almanac (which was incorrectly referenced in the now-infamous 1946 article) reportedly marked this third of four Full Moons in blue, in honour of an even older use of the term.

What—another definition?? Yup. The earliest reference to anything about a “blue Moon” comes from a rhyme going back to 1528: “If they say the Moon is blue, We must believe that it is true.” Saying the Moon was blue was like saying the Moon was made of green cheese—in other words, it was an unquestioned impossibility.

Or is it impossible?? There is yet another explanation of “Blue Moon” which refers to the actual colour of the Moon to the naked eye. Now: I’ve seen brilliant white Moons and warm yellowish Moons, orange and blood red Moons during lunar eclipses, but I’ve never seen a blue Moon. However, there are times throughout history when the Moon actually had a bluish tinge, after forest fires or volcanic eruptions, caused by refracted light in Earth’s atmosphere. (By the way, the Moon could be in any visible lunar phase for this to happen, not just a Full Moon.)

The actual phrase “once in a blue Moon” apparently dates back to the mid-19th century. By this time it was reasonably well known that occasionally the Moon really did appear blue under certain atmospheric conditions, so the phrase took on the revised meaning of “once in a while,” rather than “never” or “gimme a break!”

Odd Moon Out

But wait a second—how did we get from a silly cultural expression to the third Full Moon out of four being marked in the Maine Farmers’ Almanac? And more to the point, why would anyone care how many Full Moons there are in a season?

The main reason for identifying the seasonal Full Moons was to calculate Christian holidays. Easter is deemed to be the Sunday after the first Full Moon following the vernal (spring) equinox (called the Paschal or “Passover” Moon in the Jewish calendar—Jesus being Jewish, and the timing of Easter being linked to Passover). Since many Christian holidays are timed in relation to Easter, it became extremely important to be able to determine an accurate date for it.

Full Moons are given special names and meanings in many cultural traditions, as any good Pagan knows. Full Moons are spaced 29.5 days apart, so there is typically one per month—12 months, 12 Moon names, 12 Full Moons. So far so good. The problem comes when we occasionally get 13 Full Moons in the span of a year (which happens about every 2-3 years). With only 12 Moon designations, what to do with the 13th Moon? The Maine Farmers’ Almanac claimed this caused the early Christian monks such distress when calculating their calendars that it is the reason why the number 13 became cursed as being unlucky. At some point this extra Moon became known as the “Blue Moon,” which was deemed to be the third Full Moon in a season that had an extra—fourth—Full Moon.

The Well-Seasoned Moon

But wait a minute—the third Full Moon? Why not the fourth, which would seem logical as the “extra” Moon in a season normally populated by three? For this we must go back to the Easter-related Christian holidays. The period of Lent, which begins precisely 46 days before Easter, must contain the Lenten Moon which is considered to be the last Full Moon of the winter season which ends at the vernal equinox.

Ahhh, now we start to see the need to count the number of Moons per season! Since the last Moon of a season can be special (e.g., Lenten Moon) and the first Moon can be special (e.g., Paschal Moon), the “extra” position falls to the second or third Moon in a season that happens to contain four. Why the third is designated as the “extra” rather than the second remains a mystery—no one seems to know where the Maine Farmers’ Almanac got their “Blue Moon” rule from. One website I found speculates that Full Moons were simply counted as the “first,” “second” and “last” of a season, so that the extra defaulted to the third.

So now all that’s left is to figure out the beginning and end of the seasons, which is straightforward—right? Well, again, not exactly. Seasons are defined by the solstices (times of maximum or minimum daylight, in June and December) and the equinoxes (times of equal day and night, in March and September). But anyone born near the cusp between two zodiac signs knows that the position of the Sun varies slightly from year to year. The Sun actually reaches the vernal equinox position anywhere from the evening of March 19 to the early morning of March 22, depending on the year and which time zone you happen to be in at the time.

And then there’s whether you calculate the equinox by the Sun’s actual position or by averaging its position (like the Maine Almanac did), or just using a fixed date (like the Roman Catholic Church does). Just as time zones can complicate the date of Blue Moons rendered by the “monthly” method, your method of calculating the equinoxes and solstices can change which season winds up saddled with the 13th Full Moon. You can start to sympathise with those poor Christian monks!

Blue Moon? You Choose!

So at the end of the day (or month...or season) just when is the next Blue Moon, and how often does it happen? By the current popular definition (two Moons in a month) a Blue Moon happens about every 2½ years, and by the older definition (third Moon in a season of four) it is about the same frequency, but the formulae yield totally different dates and even different years. The next Blue Moon by the “monthly” definition is July 31, 2004...or August 30 if you happen to be reading this while basking on a beach in the Fiji Islands. By the older “seasonal” calculation, there hasn’t been a Blue Moon since 2002 (in either August or November, depending on how you partition your seasons) and there won’t be one again until August 2005.

© 2004, Wendy Guy. All rights reserved. Originally published in the Summer 2004 issue of Cauldron and Quill Magazine.

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 6:06 am
by Chris Peterson
neufer wrote:...WRONG! (And Pluto is NOT a planet).
Of course it is. (I'm surprised somebody as interested in language and culture as yourself would limit yourself to just one definition, that provided by the IAU, which doesn't even have any actual naming authority.)
It is ridiculous to define a "blue moon" as something that depends on what time zone one lives in.
Why? We don't have a problem defining other astronomical events, such as eclipses, that aren't visible from every location.

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 1:19 pm
by neufer
Chris Peterson wrote:
neufer wrote:...WRONG! (And Pluto is NOT a planet).
Of course it is. (I'm surprised somebody as interested in language and culture as yourself would limit yourself to just one definition, that provided by the IAU, which doesn't even have any actual naming authority.)
I'm surprised somebody as intellectual as yourself doesn't appreciate the value of some sort of standard naming convention.
  • ----------------------------------------
    ___ King Lear > Act I, scene V

    Fool: The reason why the seven stars
    ___ are no more than seven is a pretty reason.

    KING LEAR: Because they are not eight?

    Fool: Yes, indeed: thou wouldst make a good fool.
    ----------------------------------------
Image
Chris Peterson wrote:
neufer wrote:It is ridiculous to define a "blue moon" as something that depends on what time zone one lives in.
Why? We don't have a problem defining other astronomical events, such as eclipses, that aren't visible from every location.
Astronomical events, such as eclipses, take place regardless of whether they are observed or not.
Even astrological events take place regardless of whether they are observed or not.

A "blue moon by your definition" is simply a curious local time zone/calendar non event
much like the recent non event: 12:34:56 07/08/09.
  • ----------------------------------------
    JERRY: By the way Newman, I'm just curious.
    When you booked the hotel, did you book it for the millennium New Year?

    NEWMAN: (smug) As a matter of fact, I did.

    JERRY: Oh, that's interesting, because as everyone knows, since there was no
    year zero, the millennium doesn't begin until the year two-thousand and one.
    Which would make your party, one year late, and thus, quite lame.
    ----------------------------------------
But I'm happy to see coverage of such things in the popular press;
anything that turns people's eyes towards their calendars is a good thing. :wink:

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 3:22 pm
by Chris Peterson
neufer wrote:I'm surprised somebody as intellectual as yourself doesn't appreciate the value of some sort of standard naming convention.
Context is everything. "Planet" is one of those useful words that can mean many things. It is a word like "rock" or "mountain" that works so well precisely because it doesn't have a rigorous definition. Only in a tiny fraction of cases is it used scientifically (which is where the IAU has attempted, but largely failed, in coming up with a definition). The IAU provides recommendations for the usage of astronomical terms in academic discussions. That's all. In this case, the majority of professional astronomers disapprove of the current definition and aren't using it. If I'm talking about the planets in general, I usually include Pluto because it is historically considered a planet. If I'm being more technical, I qualify Pluto as a dwarf planet, or a KBO (and I make note that KBOs are planets as well). Surely you aren't suggesting that Pluto is a dwarf planet but is not a planet? That's too bizarre to consider seriously! Perhaps we should also say that Earth isn't a planet, but a terrestrial planet, or that Jupiter isn't a planet, but is a gas planet.
Astronomical events, such as eclipses, take place regardless of whether they are observed or not.
And blue moons take place, regardless of whether they happen in your particular time zone. Sorry, I don't see much difference.
A "blue moon by your definition" is simply a curious local time zone/calendar non event
It is a real event, even if it's just a curious interaction between the lunar cycle and our calendar. Why shouldn't we take notice of such a thing, give it a name, and celebrate it? How does the fact that it has no physical astronomical significance matter? We recognize and celebrate all sorts of things that lack physical significance.

I'm not arguing that a blue moon is astronomically significant. I'm arguing that it's culturally significant. The idea clearly holds some fascination for many people, and I don't see what's wrong with that.

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 4:43 pm
by neufer
Chris Peterson wrote:Surely you aren't suggesting that Pluto is a dwarf planet but is not a planet?
Of course I am :!:
There are eight planets in our solar system...period.

If you really wish to hold on to tradition
then there should be seven planets in our solar system.

I am also suggesting that your version of "blue moon"
is nothing more than a curious local time zone/calendar non event
and not any kind of moon.
Chris Peterson wrote:
neufer wrote:Astronomical events, such as eclipses, take place regardless of whether they are observed or not.
And blue moons take place, regardless of whether they happen in your particular time zone.
No they don't.
Chris Peterson wrote:
neufer wrote:A "blue moon by your definition" is simply a curious local time zone/calendar non event
It is a real event, even if it's just a curious interaction between the lunar cycle and our calendar. Why shouldn't we take notice of such a thing, give it a name, and celebrate it? How does the fact that it has no physical astronomical significance matter? We recognize and celebrate all sorts of things that lack physical significance.
Celebrate a ridiculous 3 decade old tradition?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festivus wrote:
The basics of the Festivus pole are explained by Frank Costanza:

Cosmo Kramer: "And is there a tree?"

Frank Costanza: "No, instead, there's a pole. It requires no decoration. I find tinsel distracting."

Frank Costanza: "It's made from aluminum. Very high strength-to-weight ratio."

When not being used, the aluminum pole is stored in the Costanzas' crawl space.
Chris Peterson wrote:I'm not arguing that a blue moon is astronomically significant. I'm arguing that it's culturally significant.
The idea clearly holds some fascination for many people, and I don't see what's wrong with that.
It's true cultural significance was given in 1528:
  • "Yf they saye the mone is belewe, We must beleve that it is true."
I.e., a blue moon was a synonym for absurdity.

Despite the general perception about myself,
I don't care to celebrate absurdity.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/269500.html wrote:
<<The 'blue moon' expression itself is old and dates back to mediaeval England. For example, a work by William Barlow, the Bishop of Chichester, the Treatyse of the Buryall of the Masse, 1528, which is more commonly known by its first line, Rede me and be nott wrothe, For I say no things but trothe included a reference to a blue moon:

"Yf they saye the mone is belewe, We must beleve that it is true."

A blue moon was a synonym for absurdity - considered to be as likely as the moon being made out of green cheese. This imagery was called on in John Frith's exhaustively entitled essay A pistle to the christen reader; the reuelation of antichrist: antithesis wherein are compared togeder Christes actes and oure holye father the Popes, 1529

"They wold make men beleue... that ye mone is made of grene chese."

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 5:08 pm
by geckzilla
See, this is why I reserve my passion for, say, chocolate. No one can argue my love of chocolate. :lol:

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 5:14 pm
by Chris Peterson
neufer wrote:There are eight planets in our solar system...period.
By one definition, but not by all. I generally consider that there are thousands of planets in our system.
I am also suggesting that your version of "blue moon" is nothing more than a curious local time zone/calendar non event and not any kind of moon.
And I seem to recall agreeing with you, except in your use of "non-event".
And blue moons take place, regardless of whether they happen in your particular time zone.
No they don't.
Strange, from where I observed, there were two full moons in the month of December. That really happened, regardless of what name (if any) you want to place on it.
Celebrate a ridiculous 3 decade old tradition?
Why not? What tradition wasn't three decades old at some point? People clearly enjoy the concept of a second full moon in a single month. They want to take notice of it. That's how traditions begin, and how they endure. People seem to feel an affinity for the Moon; they want to know if this is a Harvest Moon or a Hunter's Moon (and some of the named moons are only a few years old as well).

Again, I see no downside to recognizing blue moons as they are currently recognized. If it gets people to look up, and to think about things like calendars and lunar cycles, all the better.

Re: Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 5:51 pm
by BMAONE23
And it moves the time of the full moon from the beginning of the month, back to the end of the month to begin the 29 month cycle of progression through the calendar again.