Rare Halloween Blue Moon Oct. 31, 2020

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  Owing to the rarity of a Blue Moon the term “Blue Moon” is used colloquially to mean a rare event, as in the phrase “once in a Blue Moon.” Blue Moon indicated as obvious absurdity for thousands of years. The phrase, once in a Blue Moon today has come to mean “Every Now and Then” or ‘Rarely” whether it gained that meaning through association with the lunar event remains uncertain. For the first time since 2001, the Moon will be Full on Halloween (October 31). And because this is the second Full Moon in October, it’s also considered a Blue Moon.
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  On average, the Moon is full on Halloween every 19 years, a period known as the Metonic cycle, used for centuries to construct luni-solar calendars and to calculate the date of Easter. Between 1900 and 2100, the Moon is full on Halloween (in at least one time zone) in the following years:
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  1906, 1925, 1944, 1955, 1974, 1993, 2001, 2020, 2039, 2058, 2077, 2096
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  Furthermore, these are all Blue Moons. In fact, every Halloween Full Moon is also a Blue Moon. The cycle of lunar phases (the synodic month) is 29.5 days long, plus or minus a few hours, so any Full Moon on October 31 must be preceded by a Full Moon on October 1 or 2. Blue Moons occur about every two and a half years. The synodic month is one day shorter than the average calendar month, so it takes 30 months for the two to get back in sync. But because of the short month of February, this isn’t always true. Before 2020, there were Blue Moons in both January and March of 2018. The last one before then was in July of 2015. After 2020, there are Blue Moons in August 2023, May 2026, and December 2028. So enjoy the spooky dissonance of this Halloween Blue Moon, the last Full Moon to fall on Halloween until October 31, 2039.

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