Talk:Blue moon
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The term "Once in a Blue Moon" has nothing to do with the cyclical appearance of a celestial body that we call the moon. It is actually associated with an early Dutch trading ship known as the "Blue Moon." The Blue Moon was a world travelling trader and had a planned route to follow as it traversed the world's oceans. The Dutch captain at the helm had to make decisions as to where they went based on directions from home to sell or to buy certain items in specific ports. What made their appearance so rare in some ports was the captains discretion to buy more of some goods because it was a good price. His holds were full and he now had to interrupt his planned or promised route to resell his new found purchases. When he finally got back to the original schedule of his trade route --- IT WAS ONCE IN A BLUE MOON --- Hence that is where the term originated - not because of an imagined ethnic variety of our "man in the moon." —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jimcorbett (talk • contribs) 18:04, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
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The information from Full moon#The Blue Moon should probably merged into this article. BlankVerse ∅ 16:26, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)
- Those definitions of a "blue moon" are of a recent date as the original definition that gave rise to the phrase "once in a blue moon" has been generally forgotten. The original definition related to the moon actually being blue. This occurs when Venus is very close to the Earth and geocentricly on the opposite side of the Moon from the Sun and the sky is very clear. The dark part of the Moon is then illuminated by Venus and appears to be a pale blue color.
I've removed this text from the article Esbat, as it strikes me as being very unlikely -- the full Venus doesn't give off much light -- certainly less than the Earth. Can anyone comment on this?
The Venus explanation is nonsense - Venus is simply not bright enough to illuminate the moon. However, the following explanation of a Blue Moon is one I've heard before; "Although a 'blue moon' doesn't really look blue, there have been times when the moon does seem to have a blue color. This can be caused by dust particles in the atmosphere, which scatter light. The effects of this dust on the light coming from the moon can cause it to appear bluish in color. Fine dust particles are ejected into the Earth's upper atmosphere after large volcanic eruptions, for example. The eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in 1883 gave us one such 'blue moon'. For about 24 months after this volcano exploded, the dust it spewed into the upper atmosphere caused the moon to appear green and blue when viewed from around the world. " (Source) Denni☯ 2005 July 7 19:35 (UTC)
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[edit] Apogee and full moon ?
maybe once in a blue moon someone will look at this talk page.
I have once read that a "blue moon" refer to a full moon that also occur when the moon is in apogee (the furthest away from earth) this is a combination that only occur about every 50 ? years. Could not find any refrence to it anywhere.
can anyone help ?
As far as I remember there was such a "blue moon" few years ago. The moon was 15% smaller (as seen from earth)
Does this ring a bell to anyone or "what was I smoking?" is the better question to ask ? Zeq 20:33, 12 October 2005 (UTC)
BTW the full moon apogee is at 2014 so may it is every 19-20 years Zeq 20:37, 12 October 2005 (UTC)
So..... No one care about this ? only middle east articles get frequest visits ? Zeq 17:28, 14 October 2005 (UTC)
- I've never heard of that use of the term "blue moon". --Carnildo 18:57, 14 October 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Why the wrong lemma ?
Shouldn't it be Blue Moon ? -- 141.30.212.78 20:25, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
[edit] What is the pupose of the section "Calendar vs. Farmers' Almanac: 2004 – 2010"?
I can not understand at all what the rationale is for the section "Calendar vs. Farmers' Almanac: 2004 – 2010". Could someone please explain this to me? Lunokhod 22:00, 12 January 2007 (UTC)
A number of Pagan beliefs rely heavily on specific interpretation of the lunar cycle. The difference is important, as it determines when the named moons occur and can be celebrated. Bards 20:22, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Pictures?
Does anyone have a picture of a blue moon? Quietmartialartist 00:42, 7 June 2007 (UTC)
I do. Reply on my talk page if you want me to give you the URL (seeing that I do not know how to put pictures on articles). Chimchar monferno (talk) 04:41, 26 February 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Seasons for Farmer's Almanac
Hi 199.33,
This page defined seasons as 3 months, starting on March 22 etc (but I'm not sure where that came from) This is consistent with North American seasons (ie: Winter starts on Dec 22), and that's how I explained it in the text.
However, your definition has the first Winter moon starting anywhere from 7th Dec to 5 Jan (and I'm not sure where that came from) .... and we're now contradicting ourselves. Do you have a source for the info we can add so we know which is right? Greg (talk) 19:27, 31 January 2008 (UTC)
Oh, it also contradicts the dates of blue moons - all those dates are on or around the 21st of the month... to do that the seasons must start on or around the 21st of the month (2 months prior). Greg (talk) 19:41, 31 January 2008 (UTC)
Sky and Telescope confirms the moon dates. [1] Greg (talk) 19:49, 31 January 2008 (UTC)
I see you're talking about "New Moon" which starts 14 days before the solstice, and which leaves "full moon" to occur on or after the solstice. Does this make it more complicated!?!? Greg (talk) 20:52, 31 January 2008 (UTC)
The Farmer's Almanac was directed towards farmers. They were very interested in knowing which seasons happened on which dates. There are certain crops that need to be planted in the early spring, and other crops in either mid or late spring. The same thing applies to harvest times. Farmers need to plan ahead to get laborers, etc... Having an almanac that showed these seasons was great. For example, the early spring showed the 4 weeks on the calendar that was for planting early spring crops. The late summer moon shows the times to reserve the laborers for harvesting the particular crops that will be ripe in the late summer. So it wasn't just the full moon, but rather the entire 4 week period that was important.
Aside from farming (I'm not a farmer) I think it is romantic to be able to look at the moon on any day and know which moon it is. Today is 2/28. Looking at the moon today I know that it is the late winter moon. Soon it will turn into the early spring moon. Isn't the moon a great way to get excited about Spring? Doesn't this make the moon seasons, and the blue moons, more relevant to everyone, including those that are not farmers?
I'll add the dates of the seasons for 2008 to the article. Would it be too difficult for someone to set up the front page of Wikipeida to automatically display which season it is for each day? For example: Today is 2/28. It should display "Late Winter moon" somewhere on the front page. On 3/6 it would automatically switch to "Early Spring moon". I think a lot of people would like this convenient track of the seasons. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.33.137.2 (talk) 18:03, 28 February 2008 (UTC)
Having the current cycle would be great. I don't think wikipedia can do it... I hae to run now, but may take a quick look at "phases of the moon" or similar here - because if it's possible, that page will have done that eh?? Greg (talk) 22:53, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Belewe, Christianity, & Easter
It appears that Belewe also means "Betrayer" in old english.
So when the people in the 1300s said "If they say the moon is Belewe, we must believe it's true" would have a double meaning of "if the church say it's a betrayer moon, rather than the real season, we have to take their word for it".
Combine that with the church's focus on the computus - where Easter MUST fall on the first sunday after the easter-based full moon.
So the late winter moon is the moon for Lent (Lenten Moon - lent begins on the first day of the new Lent moon), the early spring moon is the moon for Easter. Note that the Farmer's Almanac definition then fits this calculation - those moons always retain their names. And the moon before Lent MIGHT get confused as being the Lent moon, and it would be the clergy saying "that's not the lent moon, that's the betrayer moon".
Just thoughts... putting together lots of little facts :-) Greg (talk) 20:51, 31 January 2008 (UTC)
This has info on blue moon dates, and that calculations of Farmer's Almanac are based on the nominal vernal equinox (21 March) (not the real vernal equinox, nor the december/winter solstice).
Farmers Almanac says that Belewe means "to betray" in Old English and supposes the concept is linked to an extra moon.
Greg (talk) 21:31, 31 January 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Lunar Cycle Time
Last I checked the moon took about 28 days to make a full cycle. That would make 13 full moons per year. I have also heard the wide told tale that a blue moon was the second full moon of a Gregorian Calendar month, but it occurs 1-2 times per year, not once every couple of years. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.106.3.58 (talk) 20:47, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
- Actually, it takes about 27.5 days. Yes, the Blue Moon is the second full moon in a month. If I can just get my science fair display board back, I can see how many full moons there are in a year, although I'm pretty sure that's correct.Chimchar monferno (talk) 08:29, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
Just look at the list of blue moons in the 10 year period in this article. There are 4 (no matter which way it's counted). There are occassionally an extra 2 blue moons if the calendar definition is used, when no full moon falls in February at all (black moon). Greg (talk) 22:52, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
