A blue moon often is an expression which refers to a rare event. The most noted astronomical explanation is that a blue moon is the second full Moon in a calendar moth. The 2nd of July bought to us the first of two full Moons this month, our second full Moon will come on Saturday, July 31st. The blue moon can also be interpreted as the 4th full moon in a season.

Our Moon is maybe the only astronomical object that we can examine in details without the use of magnifications, we can even look at the moon during daylight hours.



Europe is now creating designs for new space craft, one recent probe is using a new ion engine system to fly to the moon. Let's hope mankind returns to the moon soon for study and discovery about the life outside eath and the biological challenge of going into space and learning more about our solar system.

You don't even need a telescope to look at the Moon, just pointed digital cam at the sky and took this simple photo

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you can see the image again here

http://www.thespacesite.com/community/uplo...s/images/98.jpg

a tiny bit bigger

Nice photo!

I had no idea there were two full moons in a calendar month. I suppose that as there are 13 months in the Lunar calendar a full moon must be repeated at least once a year but I had never given any thought to it before!

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Hey Taikonaut,
Your "facts" section there reminded me of a commercial I saw on TV a while back (and haven't been able to stop laughing about it ever since!).

"In 1972 man went to the moon and discovered it was made of rock and not cheese...we haven't been back since. Behold the power of cheese..." LOL!!!! That commercial just cracks me up every time I see it!

I had caught that we have a blue moon this month...my wife and I are heading down to Southern Ohio this next week for two weeks of camping and the area we're going to just happens to be one of only two dark sky sites listed for Ohio. Needless to say I printed out a "Moon calander" from the Orion version of "The Sky" software so that we could plan the trip around it (make sure I get some good dark nights and all!) and I noticed the blue Moon right away. Another little FYI for everyone...if you have a copy of "The Sky - Level 1" (regardless of the vendor) you can print out nice Moon calanders for each month that will show you exactly what phase the moon is in for any given day as well as Moon (and Sun) rise and set times....very nice for planning your telescope viewing sessions

Don't get me wrong...I love the moon (my religion sort of demands it hehehe...eclectic Pagan in case your wondering), but boy does that sucker get in the way when your tryin to look at nebulas and other DSO's! LOL! This last full moon was rather low on the horizon and I noticed that it was actually brighter then the street light in front of my house...talk about washing out the night sky!

Nice pic btw...kind of a shame it didn't have a little more magnification though. Set against the clouds like that on the blue evening sky, thats always really something to behold.

Bright Blessings & Gentle Breezes,
Jim Walczak

Eclectic Pagan, wow I'm surprised.

Enjoy the stars in Souther Ohio I'm sure there will be clear skies

I'll try to get some more Moon pics and post some pictures of bigger magnification soon

Today I got a newsletter from NASA & it talks about the "Blue Moon" events.

Have a look here: Blue Moon

It confirms my memories: The time was 1883, the year an Indonesian volcano named Krakatoa exploded. This explosion caused great clouds of dust to rise up into the high atmosphere & circle the world which produced a blue moon to be seen in all the world.

Apparently ash from forest fires can produce the same effects - something I didn´t know about.

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very good NASA link Spacemad

and thanks everyone for all the good remarks. You can see another one of my Moon pictures here

http://www.thespacesite.com/community/uplo...s/images/93.jpg

the Lunar landscape can be a great to take photos of

Actually, the NASA article wasn't entirely accurate in saying, "According to modern folklore, a Blue Moon is the second full moon in a calendar month." This definition grew out of a self-perpetuating mistake that appeared in Sky & Telescope in 1946 and certainly not out of folklore. The original calendrical definition, as distinct from the presence of volcanic ash, was the third full moon in a season having four full moons.

For more see http://skyandtelescope.com/printable/news/...rticle_1313.asp and http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bluemoon1.html

Dave Mitsky

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that is my blue moon on Nasa's Page. .

I used a blue filter from a Pair Of 3D Glasses.

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messin' around a little


reversed colour playing with a Lunar pic photo shop

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Another Moon photo here

http://www.thespacesite.com/community/uplo.../images/106.jpg

Nice moon pic , TDH. could you add some details..single frame? multiple frames stacked? mosaic? any processing? and so on
TIA

Thanks seeker372011

Very little process of that photo after I picked what part of the Moon I wanted to shoot then
Just had the LX90 and the Auto-Star Suite program to automatically align and combine a few shots to get that Moon picture

A pic of the Lunar Rays and the Seas . The Moon material that goes blasting up as ejecta, can come falling back down onto the surface as rays,
with your telescope you'd see the bright streaks of material that radiate outward from the area of a crater impact.
You can spot the Seas and Ray systems much better during a full moon, because of their strong contrast with the Moon's surface the Maria are visible to the naked eye, the Oceanus Procellarum ( Ocean of Storms ) is the longest of the Moon's maria, these high contrast features are best seen during a full Moon. B)

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good info

NASA wasn't entirely accurate, how could that happen ??

So it isn't folklore then

Another Moon picture, this pic was taken on the 9th of November.

As night-time stars to set on the near side some wonderful features become visible on the Moon. After the last Quater and just as the Moon goes past its wanning crescent some nice features become faintly illuminated. Daylight has come to the farside but some subtle craters and complex features are still visible on the nearside.



Here you can see craters Hevelius, Cavelerius and Lohrmann they are Situated west of the Sea know as Oceanus Procellarum

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Brilliant shot TDH!

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Thanks Damienpaul

I'll try to keep them coming

no worries, please do keep them coming.

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