The rare blue moon will be visible on October 31. The last time a Halloween full moon appeared was for the Central and Pacific time zones in 2001.
Reality check, every month has a full blue moon. However, because the lunar cycle and calendar year aren’t perfectly synched, approximately every three years, we wind up with two in the same calendar month.
Harvest moon, or October’s first full moon, will appear on the first day of the month. The second full moon, or the rare blue moon, will be visible on Oct. 31.
The “once in a blue moon” phenomenon does not necessarily mean that the moon will look blue. It is because of the reflection coming from the dark blue tone of an evening sky. Accordingly, the Earth’s satellite will most likely not appear blue at all.
The blue moon on Halloween
For the first time since World War II, people in all parts of the world will be able to see the rare blue moon. It’s the first time a Halloween full moon has appeared for all time zones since 1944, according to Farmers’ Almanac.
The last time a Halloween full moon appeared was for the Central and Pacific time zones in 2001. On the other hand, it’s the first instance of a blue moon in the Americas since March 2018.
“When I was teaching, my high school students thought a full moon occurred every Halloween,” astronomy educator and former planetarium director Jeffrey Hunt told CNET. But the last Halloween full moon visible around the globe came in 1944, he said.
He’s written about this rare event on his website When the Curves Line Up. There was a Halloween full moon for some parts of the world in 1955, but that didn’t include western North America and the West Pacific, Hunt says.
Will it be visible in your area?
According to a report, this year’s Halloween full moon will be visible in all parts of the globe. However, that doesn’t mean every single citizen will have a view on it.
People who are across both North America and South America will see it, as will India. All of those who are in Europe and much of Asia will also see the rare blue moon.
All Western Australians will see it, but those in the central and eastern parts of the country will not. “Every time zone has it except those east of (GMT) +8 time zones if they have daylight time, or (GMT) +9 with no daylight time,” Hunt says.
Image used courtesy of Cherokee Billie/YouTube Screenshot.