A New Year, A Full Moon And Belated New Year's Fireworks

Welcome to my blog, the first post for 2018 will be about one of my passions... the Moon! This month is really interesting as we 'll be viewing a full supermoon and a full-blue moon that will actually be red!

Full moon I get, but what is the other super-full-blue moon thing?

A full moon is when all of the moon's surface is lit by the Sun. It happens just momentarily as the Sun and the Moon align (syzygy is another name for that).

(Image from: publicdomainpictures.net)

As for the supermoon, let's recall what I have told you in the past:

The supermoon looks bigger than the other full moons, because it happens when our natural satellite approaches his cosmic companion more than any other time. This name came from the astrologer (yes, astrologer, not astronomer) Richard Nolle in 1979. Another term for it is perigee syzygy of the earth–moon–sun trilogy. The moon's orbit around the earth is elliptical, which means that it will be farther from our planet at some points and closer at some others. The moon's farthest position is called the apogee and the closest to the earth position is the perigee. 

A supermoon happens when a full or new moon is at the points closer to earth. In order to be considered as a full moon it should be at most 226,000 miles away from the earth. Weird effects of a supermoon haven't been observed, at least nothing more than the usual tides that are more intense around a full moon time. 

Supermoons don't occur every month and that's because the elliptical orbit of the moon causes it to change its orientation as the earth orbits the sun.  

From: Did You Watch Tonight's Supermoon?

We call blue moon the second full moon that occurs within a calendar month. Let's freshen up this a little too:

There is a distinction between the calendar month that lasts 30-31 days (except February that is 28 days long and every four years it gets to add one more day) and the lunar month that is the time the moon takes to complete a passage through all its phases (new, half, full and new again). A lunar month lasts about 29.5 days. Don't misunderstand it with the 27.3 days it takes the moon to perform a complete orbit around the earth. The lunar month measures the time the moon takes from a viewpoint of the sun at a specific phase (new) back to the same viewpoint and phase. 

From: Did You Watch Tonight's Supermoon?

The first full moon of the year will happen on January 2nd, 02:24 UTC and the next one, the blue blood moon (wow! that sounds pretty noble) will happen on January 31st, 13:26 UTC. Here you can find a list with all the full moons for 2018: moongiant.com

Eclipse? That I know

We all know eclipses happen when one celestial body blocks the view of another one. A lunar eclipse happens when the Earth casts its shadow over the Moon. On the last day of January (31st) a total lunar eclipse will occur and then we 'll see what we call a Blood Moon. Those living in western North America, the Pacific, Asia and Australia will be lucky enough to see it with their own eyes (the rest of us will have to use our imagination).

(Image from: maxpixel.freegreatpicture.com)

You can learn more about times and dates of lunar eclipses in NASA's website: eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov 

Extra Bonus

Skies were a bit late celebrating New Year's with their natural, but amazingly beautiful "fireworks". On the night of 3rd dawning morning of 4th January a meteor shower, the Quadrantids, will also peak. They were named after a crossed-out constellation (Quadrans Muralis), but they are sometimes called Bootids (from the Bootes constellation). Bad news is that the supermoon's light will block the light show, but this does not make it any less fascinating! If you live in the Northern hemisphere, like me, get your blankets and some alcohol or a friend to keep you warm (a friend is always better) and get out to watch the show!

(The Perseid meteor shower, image from: jpl.nasa.gov)

More about meteor showers are coming in a next post ;)

And since 2017 was a really great year for STEEM, let's hope this post brings good luck and it makes it to the Moon this year! Cross your fingers! :P

Teaser: Because I was a good girl, Santa got me a rocking awesome present that has to do with sky exploration and I intend to use it soon... Can you guess what it is?

References

timeanddate.com_1
timeanddate.com_2
space.com

Thank you for stopping by and reading this. If you want to see more of my stuff, you can go through the links below:

•  A 2017 Review And A Happy New Year!
•  Let's Learn Something Cool - My Red Is Not The Same As Yours
• Diamonds And Rust - A Short Story Of Science Fiction
• Bizarre Natural Phenomena Vol.37 - Cold And Dirty "Lava" (Mud Volcanoes)
• Trolls Around The Solar System - Part 3, Mars

Until my next post,
Steem on and keep smiling, people!