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Aug. 31st, 2012
http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/34690/fridays+rare+blue+moon+beauty+comes+as+neil+armstrong+is+laid+to+rest/
On Friday night a rare blue moon will rise in the sky in an astronomical event that occurs only once every three years or so. If you're hoping to see the blue moon but the sky above you is cloudy, don't fret. The web-based Slooh Space Camera will broadcast the event live beginning at 6 p.m. EDT. (The website's even got a countdown clock to its blue moon coverage.
On Friday night a rare blue moon will rise in the sky in an astronomical event that occurs only once every three years or so. If you're hoping to see the blue moon but the sky above you is cloudy, don't fret. The web-based Slooh Space Camera will broadcast the event live beginning at 6 p.m. EDT. (The website's even got a countdown clock to its blue moon coverage.
Friday evening's blue moon will allow fans of the late Neil Armstrong to marvel at man's incredible feat. Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the lunar surface back in 1969. This photo was taken early Friday morning as the moon technically turned full. Photo: Travis Burke
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_moon
A blue moon is the appearance of the third full moon in a season with four full moons. The term has also mistakenly been used to refer to the second full moon in a month. Most years have twelve full moons that occur approximately monthly. In addition to those twelve full lunar cycles, each solar calendar year contains roughly eleven days more than the lunar year of 12 lunations. The extra days accumulate, so every two or three years (7 times in the 19-year Metonic cycle), there is an extra full moon. Lunisolar calendars have rules about when to insert such an intercalary or embolismic ("leap") month, and what name it is given; e.g. in the Hebrew calendar the month Adar is duplicated. The term "blue moon" comes from folklore. Different traditions and conventions place the extra "blue" full moon at different times in the year. In the Hindu calendar, this extra month is called 'Adhik(extra) masa (month)'. It is also known as purushottam maas, so as to give it a devotional name.