Tonight’s blue moon will dazzle viewers all over the world. But for a truly unique experience, watch this live Slooh space camera show to get incredible telescopic close-ups of the lunar surface and a special tribute to Neil Armstrong starting at 3 p.m. PT (6 p.m. ET).
The term blue moon comes with a fair amount of confusion — the moon will not actually be turning blue tonight. A blue moon occurs whenever there are two full moons in a single month, a relatively rare celestial event that happens on average every 2.7 years. (The first full moon in August took place the night of the 1st in the Americas, and on the 2nd in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia.) The next blue moon won’t happen until July 2015.
The origin of the modern version of this phrase dates to March 1946, when amateur astronomer James Hugh Pruett made a calendar error in an article for Sky & Telescope magazine. Before then, the definition of a blue moon wasn’t quite set in stone. It meant different things, including an obvious absurdity, a symbol for sadness and loneliness, a gin and curaçao cocktail, or a rare event. In some very unusual cases the moon will actually appear blue, generally because of dust resulting from a volcanic eruption, forest fire, or dust storm. The twice-in-one-month full moon definition has now become the standard.
In addition to doling out interesting facts such as the above, tonight’s Slooh show will include zoomed-in, live feeds of the moon from their telescope in the Canary Islands as well as images of solar flares on the sun from Prescott observatory in Arizona. Because of their distant locations on Earth, the telescopes will be able to simultaneously show the moon and sun live in true color. Befitting this blue moon event, Slooh editor Bob Berman and documentary filmmaker Duncan Copp will also be on hand to talk about the legacy of the Apollo program and the late Neil Armstrong, who passed away on Aug. 25.
Video: Slooh space camera collaboration
Adam is a Wired reporter and freelance journalist. He lives in Oakland, Ca near a lake and enjoys space, physics, and other sciency things.
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