It’s one of the rarest of astronomical phenomenon, and it’s going to take place on New Year’s Eve (at least in places not Australia).  It’s a blue moon, and while it’s easy to explain, the phrase’s current connotation is not.  Long story short, a blue moon is a second full moon in a calendar month.  Tonight is December’s second full moon; this is the first blue moon on New Year’s Eve since 1990, making it doubly rare!

How the planetary event of a second full moon in a month picked up the moniker blue moon is unknown.  The phrase “once in a blue moon” has been around for nearly 400 years, but has only been used since the 1940’s to describe the second full moon in a month.  The use of “blue moon” to describe a rare event can be traced back to the 1883 eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia, when a cloud of dust and ash gave the moon a blue tint.

Image: Brisbane Times

Tags: astronomy, space, unusual astronomy, natural phenomenon, blue moon, blue moon on new year’s eve, new years eve moon, weird science

I’ve never had a problem eating food from a gas station.  Just two weeks ago, I ate a couple of hot dogs purchased from a gas station.  They were delicious.  That’s not the first time I’ve eaten gas station food, and I doubt it will be the last.  There’s nothing like a fun food novelty. […]

Commissioner Roger Goodell gathered 32 NFL owners for one big question.  One of the league’s most wanderlust-stricken franchises is looking to move again.  The Oakland-Los Angeles-Oakland Raiders, tired of gutting it out in a run-down stadium, were once again looking for greener pastures.  Only the Miami Dolphins refused to cooperate.  With a vote of 31-1, […]

In 2006, an injury to Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe opened the door for an undrafted free agent by the name of Tony Romo to take the helm of America’s Team and lead the Dallas Cowboys to an early playoff exit.  Bledsoe went from starter to afterthought in a season.  Now, the circle continues […]

For 89 years, Oscars has never had a major mistake.  The last few Oscars might have had a few flubs, but at least they never got the most important category of the night wrong.  Well, that’s now changed, all thanks to OG Bonnie and Clyde legends Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.  When Faye Dunaway called […]

Tom Brady has been wildly successful, if controversial.  He’s the first quarterback ever to win five Super Bowls and only the second player to do so after Charles Haley.  Unlike Haley, Brady won all his Super Bowls with the same team, the New England Patriots.  The only thing that seems to be able to stop […]

Ben Affleck, no matter what you might think of him, is a talented actor and director.  He’s got the goods, but he’s smart enough to know when he’s in over his head.  All along, since he took on the mantle of Batman, he’s had his eyes on writing, directing, and starring as the Caped Crusader. […]

In May, students for the for-profit American College of Education were running into some problems.  Their access to email accounts and course information was locked down by Google, who had disabled their accounts.  The reason why?  A fired IT worker for the American College of Education locked the school out of their Google cloud account. […]