Blue Moon Rising

Winter moons, while playing havoc with stargazing, are superb. Their light reflects back off the snow with such brilliance that we all broke out in a chorus of Cat Steven's "Moonshadow" (well, not all of us... but those of us who were outside looking at the moon and the stars and lucky enough to hear the wolfpack howl up on the Lookout hill!)

"I'm being followed by a moon shadow... moon shadow, moon shadow."

It's one of the very best arguments for TURNING OFF THE OUTDOOR LIGHTS! You can see so well out there in the night. We cannot call it the dark, because moon on snow creates such a different luminesence, but it is certainly not 'dark'.

This moon is a very special moon. The glowing light in the night sky right now is a Blue Moon Rising. It pops up in mid-afternoon, so you can get a good look at it without having to come out after bedtime. It will be full on December 31st... right in sync with the New Year's celebrations.

What do we mean, it's a Blue Moon? Well, that is the name given to the second full moon within a month. The normal state of the union is that we only get one full moon every month. That's just the way the calendar and the lunar cycle mesh. But every now and then, rarely... seldom... once in a blue moon you might say... we get a second full moon. That second moon in the month is termed a Blue Moon.

And here she is. So, for all those of you who have been putting things off because you figured you'd only get to them once in a blue moon, now is your chance!

At the very least, you should pop outside and look at the moon. There will be partial lunar eclipse on New Year's eve as well, but very little of it will be visible from this part of the world.

Still... a lunar eclipse on top of a blue moon? Now THAT only happens once in a blue moon...