Blue moon this weekend: when and how to look

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A blue moon is the third full moon of a season that contains four full moons, instead of the usual three, according to Sky & Telescope magazine. The phenomenon of the sky has been a cultural muse for music, art and language, such as the hit songs “When My Blue Moon Returns to Gold” and “Blue Moon”, recorded by various artists , including Elvis Presley, and the so-called “once upon a blue moon,” which describes a rare fact.
NASA has reported the first recorded use of “blue moon” that occurred in 1528, while Sky & Telescope traces the origin of the term to the almanac of Maine farmers published in the 1930s.

“The introduction of the ‘Blue’ Moon meant that traditional full moon names, such as Wolf Moon and Harvest Moon, were kept (synchronized) with their season,” said Diana Hannikainen, Sky’s observer editor. & Telescope, in a press release. This was before the late amateur astronomer and collaborator of Sky & Telescope, Hugh Pruett, misunderstood the definition in 1946 and ultimately helped circulate the popular definition of blue moon: the second full moon in a month, the last of which occurred on Halloween 2020, according to Sky & Telescope.

People in the Americas will be able to see an almost full moon on Saturday night, before the true blue moon reaches the highest point in the sky in the early hours of Sunday morning at 1:04 a.m. Eastern time, according to NASA . The moon will reach its maximum illumination at 8:02 am, Eastern Time, Sunday and will appear near fullness after dusk that day.

The full blue moon, which passes approximately once every 2.7 years on average, will not actually appear blue, but this only happens even more rarely, when “volcanic eruptions or forest fires send a lot of smoke and fine dust into the atmosphere, “according to Sky & Telescope.

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This moon has had many different names. The Maine Farmers’ Almanac first published the terms of Native Americans for full moons in the 1930s, according to NASA, including the “Sturgeon Moon” of the Algonquin tribes, which bears the name of large fish that were most easily caught in the Great Lakes and other bodies. of water during this time and the “Green Corn Moon.”

However, the name of the full moon in August differs across cultures. The Anishnaabe refer to it as the “berry moon,” while the Cherokees call it the “drying moon.” For the Comanche, the full moon in August is the “summer moon.” The people of the creek know it as the moon of the “great harvest.” And the Hopi people call it the “moon of joy.”
See all the names of Native Americans of this full moon on the Western Washington University Planetarium website.

Next sky schedule

Over the remainder of 2021, you may be able to capture these space and sky events based on your location.
Full moons and their names, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac:
  • September 20: Moon harvest
  • October 20: Hunter’s Moon
  • November 19: Beaver Moon
  • December 18: Cold Moon
Meteor showers, according to EarthSky’s 2021 meteor shower guide:
  • October 8: Draconids
  • October 21: Orionids
  • November 4-5: Southern bullfighting
  • November 11-12: Northern Bullfighting
  • November 17: Leonides
  • December 13-14: Geminids
  • December 22: Ursids
Solar and lunar eclipses, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac:
  • November 19: A partial lunar eclipse, which people in North America and Hawaii will see between 1 a.m. and 7:06 p.m.
  • December 4: Total eclipse visible for the Falkland Islands, the southern tip of Africa, Antarctica and southeastern Australia.

When the planets will be visible

Sky observers will have multiple opportunities to detect planets during certain mornings and evenings during the rest of 2021, according to the Farmer’s Almanac planetary guide.

It is possible to see most of these (except Neptune) with the naked eye, but binoculars or a telescope will provide the best view.

Mercury will appear as a bright star in the morning sky from October 18 to November 1. It will shine in the night sky from August 31 to September 21 and from November 29 to December 31.

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Venus, our closest neighbor to the solar system, will appear in the western sky at dusk until December 31st. It is the second brightest object in our sky, after the moon.

Mars makes its reddish appearance in the morning sky between November 24 and December 31, and will be visible in the night sky until August 22.

Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, is the third brightest object in our sky. Look for it in the evenings from August 20 to December 31, but it will be brighter until September 2.

Saturn’s rings are only visible through a telescope, but the planet itself can still be seen with the naked eye in the evenings until December 31st.

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Binoculars or a telescope will help you detect the greenish brightness of Uranus in the morning until November 3 and at night from December 4 to 31. It will be at full brightness between August 28 and December 31.

And our farthest neighbor from the solar system, Neptune, will be visible through a telescope in the morning until Sept. 13 and during the evenings from Sept. 14 to Dec. 31. It will be at its maximum until November 8.

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