This New Year's Eve, A Blue Moon

2nd full moon of month will grace last night of the year
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 28, 2009 2:39 AM CST
This New Year's Eve, A Blue Moon
A flock of birds take flight over the City of Milford, Ohio, as a full moon rises in the east sky.   (AP Photo/The Cincinnati Enquirer, Ernest Coleman)

New Year's revelers will experience an event that happens once in a blue moon. That's because there will be a blue moon—the occurrence of two full moons in the same month. Blue moons aren't actually all that rare: they happen about every 2.5 years. But there hasn't been a blue moon on New Year's Eve since 1990, and there won't be another until 2028.

''While everyone's celebrating they should take a moment and look up into the night sky," astronomer David Renke tells the Sydney Morning Herald. But don't expect to see blue. The moon doesn't actually change colors due to the phenomenon. (More full moon stories.)

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