BLUE MOON

DUKES FANS: “Blue Moon; you saw me standing alone; without a love of my own..” Rogers and Hart Last weekend saw the appearance of the first and only Blue Moon for 2026, and it was big news. It was featured on the web, in blogs, on news broadcasts and in newspapers and magazines all around the world. There were also some great photographs taken and posted all over various media. I am always interested in sky things, and I was outside on Sunday evening viewing it. It was a quietly spectacular bit of astronomical occurrence. I first became interested in astronomy when I was in junior high school. I went to Masterman at 17th and Spring Garden Streets, and they took us fairly regularly to The Franklin Institute, a few blocks away on the Parkway. I loved all the displays, but I especially loved The Fels Planetarium. There I would be immersed in stunning totally surrounding views of the night sky, the constellations, the planets, the moon, the sun, the rings of Saturn, and more. It was truly awesome. And I have gone there a couple of times a year ever since. When I was older and could travel some, I also visited The Hayden Planetarium at New York City’s Museum of Natural History. I would go there a couple of times a year, and I was happy to be taken on journeys to all different parts of the universe in even more spectacular fashion than at the Fels. The Hayden is bigger, and they pioneered many of the innovations that are now standard in planetariums around the world. For several years I was a member of the New York Natural History Museum as well and The Franklin. And as many of you who have been reading these missives for a while know, I am still in love with and amazed by that thing overhead called, “the sky” in my old age. As to why the blue moon is called the “Blue Moon,” there are several stories about that. The most commonly accepted etymology says that saying was used in 1500’s Europe to describe something completely absurd or inconceivable. Saying, “the moon is blue” was a way of describing something that was virtually impossible to imagine. However, the term's meaning changed when later events atmospheric things happened that actually turned the moon blue. When the volcano Krakatoa happened in 1883, there were numerous accounts of people seeing a bluish moon overhead for several days. Scientists believe that the unusual combination of chemicals, gasses, and substances from the eruption gave the moon a “blue tint” when seen from earth. And history has recorded that some massive forest fires have had the same effect. Given those events, the phrase slowly came to mean not something impossible, but something that happens very rarely: ‘once in a blue moon.” The phrase also has gained a calendrical meaning. The second full moon in a month is considered a “Blue Moon,” and May this year fit that definition. In fact, any month that starts with a full moon, except February, will have a Blue Moon because it takes approximately 29.5 days for the moon to go through all its phases. So if there is a full moon on the first of a month, there will be another at the end of the month.This happens once every two to three years. I hope you got to see some of May’s Blue Moon. It was slightly cloudy, but the moon shone through boldly and proudly. Here are a couple of links to some interesting photos of the occurrence: (apologies for the ads) Enjoy. https://www.space.com/stargazing/astrophotography/mays-blue-moon-wows-stargazers-worldwide-see-these-stunning-photos-of-the-smallest-full-moon-of-2026 https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/blue-moon-may-2026-images https://nextdoor.com/p/xQBpNz7K8DjJ?post=482893068&utm_source=email§ion=post_0&mar=true&ct=4eOq-BxY5Ms5RMbDTA-oukNIxc9tLT5vrFGY-PPHdawKq0bCJ6lyF4VONFqcrHJ1&ec=OWKiQRDj9vEHAYwTV6YMARldwuFdgGkeefhwfGYAE0s%3D&mobile_deeplink_data=eyJhY3Rpb24iOiAidmlld19wb3N0IiwgInBvc3QiOiA0ODI4OTMwNjh9&link_source_user_id=37647443