Blue moon to grace our skies tonight; next one won’t happen
until 2015! View of a full moon taken by NASA’s Expedition 10
crew who had been orbiting Earth aboard the International Space
Station between 2004 and 2005. Credit: NASA It seems to be a
fitting celestial tribute to the late astronaut Neil Armstrong,
whose memorial service takes place today in Ohio, as there’s
going to be a rare phenomenon in our skies tonight – a blue
moon. That’s because, for the second time this August, there
will be a full moon. And it will be July 2015 before two full
moons are set to occur again in one calendar month, with the
name blue moon having carried on from folklore to represent a
rare event. This month, the first full moon occurred on the
night of 1/2 August before tonight's full moon right on the cusp
of the start of September. Blue in name only? However, the term
blue moon generally only applies to the name that has been given
to this celestial phenomenon, so one is not likely to glimpse a
moon that's blue in colour a