Get yer butt out there -- Blue Moon this month

No, not the title of a song. Nor a detective agency run by Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis. Nor a beer brand, Hickey.

The first full moon of December 2009 rose last night at 0730 GMT (0230 EST). What's that you say, the "first" full moon of the month? Yep, the second one in the month, i.e., the "blue moon," comes on Dec. 31 at 1913 GMT (1413 EST, or 2:13 p.m. EST). Now, that's something to think about and plan for -- a full/blue moon over the mountains on New Year's Eve.

Next one won't come until August 2012. As the saying goes, "You could look it up": USNO Phases of the Moon (Why does the Navy care about Moon phases? Well, apart from tide predictions, it's a good idea to know when the moon comes up if you're landing SEALs on a beach . . . )

Aside from 'once in a LONG time', there is an older definition of blue moon:

http://www.farmersalmanac.com/what-is-a-blue-moon

from which the common definition evolved.

You just knew I'd be in here, didn't you?

Here's an article in the offending Sky & Telescope magazine, explaining its role in creating and spreading the apparently erroneous, but now predominant, definition: "What's a Blue Moon?"

(How many times do you suppose Sky & Telescope has been castigated for being offensive? )

When I saw it last night I was ticked off I wasn't hiking. Then I thought about the date and realized it might be a New Years full moon! Yippee ki yay! I'll be plotting my attacks after Christmas.

Thanks for the reminder.

Hiking up the Crawford Path early this morning I could see the full moon low on the horizon.

I made a mental note to catch sunset somewhere at the end of this month to see the next full moon rise.

[JOHNNY CARSON]: "I. Did. Not. Know. That."


Interesting info, though from the thread subject title, I was expecting something about chapped cheeks from dropping trou at the Cog during sub-zero temps...

(I know, I know, the Cog doesn't run this time of year.)

From the very interesting story on those links it appears that the blue moon was around the first of November. The old usage was that when there are 4 full moons in a season (in this case Autumn) the 3rd one is the "blue moon". That was so the naming ("harvest moon", "hunters moon", etc.) wouldn't be thrown off.

Still, a New Years Eve full moon (if visible) is pretty cool (cold actually ) even if not blue.

There are no official names for the full moons, but according to space.com, last night’s was the Full Cold Moon and the next will be the Full Long Night Moon.

Anyone remember what was unusual about February 1980?

Raymond said:

There are no official names for the full moons, but according to space.com, last night’s was the Full Cold Moon and the next will be the Full Long Night Moon.

Anyone remember what was unusual about February 1980?

Click to expand...

I'll guess there were 2 full moons in that short (but that year, longer) month.

The next New Year's Eve blue moon doesn't occur again until 2028.

This New Year's Eve blue moon arrives exactly 10 years after the world was supposed to end (Y2K). Everyone used up their stash of TP yet?
That year, some of us climbed Mt. Lafayette to welcome in the new millenium at midnight and were treated to a wicked awesome fireworks display at Cannon ski area, below us.

This is what I'm doing this year: http://coyotebluemoon50.com/

I saw this and thought it was another thread about drinking and hiking. I wonder if anyone will have a Blue Moon while hiking during the Blue Moon?

ColdRiverRun said:

When I saw it last night I was ticked off I wasn't hiking. Then I thought about the date and realized it might be a New Years full moon! Yippee ki yay! I'll be plotting my attacks after Christmas.

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I think it was 11 years ago... My son and I accompanied a friend who finished his full moon 46, on the summit of Whiteface as the new year came in. Taking a kid to the summit of Whiteface under a full moon to see the new year come in, is something he'll remember for his life.

Pete_Hickey said:

Taking a kid to the summit of Whiteface under a full moon to see the new year come in, is something he'll remember for his life.

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You betcha.

I think it was 11 years ago... My son and I accompanied a friend who finished his full moon 46, on the summit of Whiteface as the new year came in.

Click to expand...

According to something you wrote long ago Wayne finished as '99 rolled in.

This is what I'm doing this year: http://coyotebluemoon50.com/

Click to expand...

Stinkyfeet said:

That year, some of us climbed Mt. Lafayette to welcome in the new millenium at midnight and were treated to a wicked awesome fireworks display at Cannon ski area, below us.

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The moon this afternoon from Little Haystack. It made a very brief appearance for two happy hikers.

Good guess, Tom, but I don’t think it’s possible to have two full moons in February, as the lunar cycle is apparently just over 29½ days. (Several Web sites say 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes.)

No, February 1980, in our time zone anyway, had no full moons, despite that being a leap year and the month having 29 days, so the timing of the full moons had to be just right.

There’s a calendar here. This page shows a full moon on February 1, 1980, at 2:23, but that is Greenwich Mean Time. It was still January on this side of the Atlantic.

According to this page it won’t happen again that a leap-year February has no full moons until 2572.

I thought the original article I read, almost 30 years ago (in Blair & Ketchum’s Country Journal, I believe), said that it wouldn’t happen again until 6000-something. Whichever, it won’t be for a while.

I think the original article was by the late David Ludlum. Now I’m thinking I’ll need to get up into the attic to see if I still have that old magazine.

Raymond said:

There are no official names for the full moons, but according to space.com, last night’s was the Full Cold Moon and the next will be the Full Long Night Moon.

Click to expand...

I found this link on space.com, not sure if that was yours, which attributes the names to the native Americans...obviously not going to be concerned with Lent! There a good set on Wikipedia, although sadly arranged by month rather than season. It looks like they're listing winter as Jan-Mar (and so on), which won't always be accurate.

I was looking for a list of full moon names that would agree with the names I remember from The Old Farmer’s Almanac. Each month’s moon had its own name, and a second full moon in any month had an alternate name.

If the Harvest Moon came after the autumnal equinox, a September full moon before the equinox would be the Corn Moon, for example. The lists now seem to assign the name Strawberry Moon for June’s full moon, but I remember that as being the name for the second full moon of June; the first was the Full Hot Moon (opposite December’s Full Cold Moon).

I can’t find it now, but the other night I stumbled on a list of names for the moons given by various peoples around the world.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac is having a contest to come up with new names for the full moons.

I really would like to hike on the New Year's Eve full moon!

I've attempted one full moon hike this fall and it was cloudy. Plus, New Year's Day is my birthday!

(also my user name is Blue)

Here's hoping for clear skies.

Bumping this to the top as a reminder for the end of this week.

I'm soaking it up. XC ski 2 nights ago with the family, snowshoe last night and earning turns at Bromley tonight. Nothing makes a great night like a full moon.