![]() Sky & Telescope admitted to its " blue Moon blooper," an error that had crept onto the magazine's pages 53 years earlier, in its May 1999 issue. And as discovered five years ago, it can be traced to a mistake published in Sky & Telescope in the 1940s! But be aware that, technically, every one of these reports will be in error! According to Canadian folklorist Philip Hiscock, the term "blue Moon" has been around for more than 400 years, but its modern calendrical meaning has become widespread only in the last 25. Countless newspapers, radio and TV stations, and Web sites will certainly do so. If you want to tell friends that Saturday's full Moon is a blue Moon, go right ahead. Not until May 2007 (in North American time zones) or June 2007 (Europe) will it happen again. The last time a calendar month included two full Moons was November 2001. Months with 31 days, including July, can have two full Moons only if the first one occurs by the 2nd of the month, as happens in July 2004. To squeeze a pair into a month with 30 days, the first must occur on the 1st of the month. Thus February, with at most 29 days, can never accommodate two full Moons. The reason is simple: the average time between full Moons is 29½ days. It is rare to have two full Moons in a single month. While the latter meaning can be traced back centuries, the former definition is much newer - and it's wrong! Many people call the second full Moon in a calendar month a "blue Moon" and use the expression "once in a blue Moon" to mean something that occurs only rarely. On Saturday evening, July 31st, a full Moon will rise for the second time this month (the first time was on July 2nd). Is the July 31st full Moon, the second one this month, really a 'blue' Moon?
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