Hello All!   
      
   Watch Out for the Blue Moon    
      
   August 29, 2012: When someone says "Once in a Blue Moon," you know what they   
   mean:  Rare, seldom, even absurd.    
      
   This year it means August 31st.    
      
   For the second time this month, the Moon is about to become full.  There was   
   one full Moon on August 1st/2nd, and now a second is coming on August 31st.    
   According to modern folklore, whenever there are two full Moons in a calendar   
   month, the second one is "blue."    
      
   Cue up the Elvis records! "Blue Moon.. You saw me standing alone, without a   
   dream in my heart, without a love of my own." In song and literature, blue   
   moons have long symbolized lost love and melancholy. Elvis set the standard   
   for lunar heartbreak in his 1956 pop hit "Blue Moon."    
      
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HRKl0fa2dg   
      
   A new ScienceCast video explores the facts and myths of Blue Moons. Play it   
   But will the moody Moon of August 31st actually turn blue?  Probably not.    
      
   Most Blue Moons look pale gray and white, indistinguishable from any other   
   Moon you've ever seen.  Squeezing a second full Moon into a calendar month   
   doesn't change the physical properties of the Moon itself, so its color   
   remains the same.    
      
   With that caveat in mind, however, be aware that on rare occasions it can   
   happen.    
      
   A truly-blue Moon usually requires a volcanic eruption. Back in 1883, for   
   example, people saw blue moons almost every night after the Indonesian volcano   
   Krakatoa exploded with the force of a 100-megaton nuclear bomb. Plumes of ash   
   rose to the very top of Earth's atmosphere, and the Moon . it turned blue!    
      
   http://www.spaceweather.com/glossary/bluemoonstories.html   
      
   Smoke from volcanoes and forest fires can cause the Moon to turn blue. [Blue   
   Moon Stories] Krakatoa's ash was the reason. Some of the plumes were filled   
   with particles 1 micron wide, about the same as the wavelength of red light.    
   Particles of this special size strongly scatter red light, while allowing blue   
   light to pass through. Krakatoa's clouds thus acted like a blue filter.    
      
   People also saw blue-colored Moons in 1983 after the eruption of the El   
   Chichon volcano in Mexico. And there are reports of blue Moons caused by Mt.   
   St. Helens in 1980 and Mount Pinatubo in 1991.    
      
   Certain forest fires can do the same trick.  A famous example is the giant   
   muskeg fire of Sept. 1953 in Alberta, Canada.  Clouds of smoke containing   
   micron-sized oil droplets produced lavender suns and blue Moons all the way   
   from North America to England.    
      
   There are plenty of wildfires burning in the hot, dry USA this month.  If any   
   of them produce smoke with an extra dose of micron-sized particles, the full   
   Moon might really turn blue.    
      
   On the other hand, maybe it will turn red.  Often, when the moon is hanging   
   low, it looks red for the same reason that sunsets are red.  The atmosphere is   
   full of aerosols much smaller than the ones injected by volcanoes.  Measuring   
   less than a micron in diameter, these aerosols scatter blue light, while   
   leaving the red behind. For this reason, red Blue Moons are far more common   
   than blue Blue Moons.    
      
   Sounds absurd? Yes, but that's what a Blue Moon is all about. Step outside at   
   sunset on August 31st, look east at the moonrise, and see what color presents   
   itself.    
      
      
   Author: Dr. Tony Phillips| Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit:   
   Science@NASA   
      
   More Information    
   The shifting folklore of the Blue Moon is described in this story about a 2007   
   Blue Moon over North America    
      
   A note about the first full Moon of August:  The Moon became full on August   
   2nd at 03:27 Universal Time  That's the evening of August 1st for observers in   
   North America.    
      
   Blue Moon Stories -- accounts of actual Blue Moon sightings from   
   spaceweather.com    
      
   Blue Moons and Lavender Suns -- from the Alaska Science Forum    
      
   Once in a Blue Moon -- more information from Sky and Telescope    
      
      
   Regards,   
      
   Roger    
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: NCS BBS - Houma, LoUiSiAna - (1:3828/7)