(Flickr photo by markkilner)
Tonight’s New Years Eve festivities will be made a little brighter by a full moon in the sky, and a rare full moon at that. Normally, we see a full moon once a month. But once every two years, approximately, we see two full moons in one calendar month, on a night called the “Blue Moon”. Tonight is that night.
The rare Blue Moon, the name of which apparently dates back to the 1500s and was made famous by Shakespeare, Elvis and the idiomatic expression which I entitled this post, is even rarer tonight. The date of the Blue Moon falls on NYE every 19 years; the last one was in 1990, and the next won’t come until 2028.
Unfortunately, the moon won’t actually look blue, barring some intense volcanic eruption this afternoon that sends megatons of particles into the atmosphere (see: Krakatoa).
I’m scrambling to find a zoom lens bigger than 200mm in time to shoot the moon tonight. I tried a few nights ago, but 200mm just doesn’t cut it; I will at least need a 300mm lens to frame the moon with enough clarity to be a worthwhile shot. I’ve made some calls, and hopefully one of my shutterbug friends will come through.
In any event, Happy Blue Moon and a Happy New Year.
