Blue Moon And Red Mars On May 21, 2016

Title

Blue Moon And Red Mars On May 21, 2016

Artist

Dale Powell

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Photograph

Description

he moon is blue in name only, but spectacular near the red planet Mars tonight, just one day before Mars’ first opposition in two years!

Tonight – May 21, 2016 – the Blue Moon will be near red Mars, now exceedingly bright and nearly at its closest to Earth for this two-year period. Wow!

This full Blue Moon and the red planet Mars will shine together all night long, from dusk May 21 until dawn May 22. Of course, the moon is blue in name only. But red Mars really is noticeably red in color, and the full moon and Mars are guaranteed to be spectacular on this date.

Earth will pass between Mars and the sun tomorrow. Astronomers call it an opposition of Mars, because Mars will be opposite the sun, rising at sunset. Likewise a full moon rises at sunset.

And that’s why Mars is near the moon on this full moon night, just one day from Mars’ opposition.

In recent years, the most popular definition of the term Blue Moon has been the second of two full moons in the same calendar month. The May 21 moon is full, but it isn’t the second one in May. Nor is the May 21 moon likely to be blue in color, as that’s caused by exceedingly rare atmospheric conditions.

Rather, the May 21 full moon is the third of four full moons to fall within the same season. To astronomers, a season is the period of time in between a solstice and an equinox – or vice versa. This full moon is the third of four full moons to take place in between the March 2016 equinox and June 2016 solstice.

According to skylore, that makes the May 21 full moon a Blue Moon!

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March 19th, 2018

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