Rare Blue Moon Fills Night Sky

Won't be back until 2015
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 21, 2013 6:50 AM CDT
Rare Blue Moon Fills Night Sky
The moon rises over the New York skyline in its full stage under a phenomenon called the blue moon, as seen from West Orange, NJ, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013.   (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Photographers were out in force last night to capture a rare blue moon. No, blue moons aren't actually blue (although there have been moons that were blue, most recently in 1950); rather, the term refers to the second full moon in a month, USA Today reports. But wait, you exclaim! Last night was August's first full moon, so something must be amiss, right? International Science Times clears things up: The first (and, in its telling, "most valid") definition of a blue moon is the third of four full moons that occur in a single season. A season would typically have only three, and this extra moon comes about every two to three years. The next will be in 2015. (More moon stories.)

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