Blue Moon

I think Dave meant June 2007 not June 2006, this would tie up nicely with your chart.

See that's what happens when I actually listen to him. Astronomer of the year 2006 (or 2007?) indeed

:lol:

Dave,
You'd want to be careful there, or you may get plutoed .

There are two Full Moons in June this year. My copy of the Astronomical Almanac for 2007 gives the two as June 01d 01h 04m and June 30d 13h 49m.

It's a bit of an odd one though because technically the Moon is taken as Full at such and such a time UT. By correcting it to time in the Continental US, space.com are saying that the instant of Full Moon is at a particular time for them -- it can be both right and wrong depending on which side of the fence you want to stand Astronomically speaking however, we can say space.com are wrong.

I previously wrote about Blue Moons (well, a short piece), in Sky-High 1999 when that year there were two months with two Full Moons (January and March -- there was no Full Moon in February). The next instance of a year with two months of two Full Moon's is 2018. The phenomenon is not exclusive to Full Moons ... we have two Last Quarter Moons in December 2007 as well!

The reason is rooted of course in the fact that the Moon's synodic period is less than a calendar month so the date of a lunar phase slowly slides backwards through the months. Blue Moon months occur every 2.6 years on average.

All the best,

John

John - I thought Space.com was a bit dodgy but I thought I'd better leave that to the expert!

Thanks for the clarification - see you in Galway.

Dave

Hi Dave,

Congrats on the Irish Astronomer of the Year 2006 award!

I was just looking back at my notes and the second Full Moon of January 1999 was a total lunar eclipse as well as being a Blue Moon! Amazingly, the next occasion of a year with two months of two Full Moons also has a Blue Moon lunar eclipse (the second Full Moon of January 2018). That eclipse will not be visible from Ireland however.

Talk to you in Galway at the end of the month.

John