Full Blue Moon for New Years

After days of cloud and rain with no sign of sun or moon I just looked out of the window to glimpse the unexpected majesty of a full moon popping out of the clouds. Just googled the event to confirm and found the following info. It's a blue moon. ie: 2nd full moon of the month.

The modern astronomical Blue Moon occurs in some month every 2.5 years, on average. A Blue Moon falling precisely on Dec. 31st, however, is much more unusual. The last time it happened was in 1990, and the next time won't be until 2028.

Happy new year to you all. Hope tonights not too blue for you. :)
 
Or maybe not?

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/oops-that-nye-moons-not-really-blue-20091229-lify.html

smh said:
It may become known as the great blue moon boo boo.

Reports of Australians celebrating New Year's Eve under a rare blue moon have been shot down by astronomers.

News websites, including this one, were quick to follow up on a report in yesterday's The Age newspaper, which referred to a blue moon occuring on New Year's Eve.

The only problem is, that report was incorrect.

In Australia, at least.

A blue moon is scheduled for 7.13pm New Year's Eve, but astronomers work in Greenwich Mean Time.

Because Australia's time zone is ahead of England, the full moon will actually occur at 5.13am January 1, Brisbane time.

The fact that it doesn't fall in the same month means it can no longer be considered a blue moon.

Happy New Year!
 
After another hot day in Melbourne the rain was just lovely. The moon was hidden a bit by the lovely rain clouds but there were some great lightening shows (better than any fireworks).

Party at a friends place, kids ran around under the sprinkler, left at 7.30pm to get hubby to bed at 9.30pm for a 3.30am wake up.

Happy New Year! 2010 feels great already! :)
 
I'm getting that tonight will be the full moon with another on Jan 30 making it a blue moon.
http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/94317.html

As a photog who monitors the moon phases quite closely to be able to catch the full moon rising over the landscape I have found that the night before a full moon when it is 99% full the moon will rise quite early - around 5.30 to 6.00pm and the night of the full moon it rises much later around 8.00pm so it is much better to try and photograph it the day before it is full when it is illuminated by the setting sun.

It sure did look spectacular rising over the surrounding hills though.
 
New years eve was a sound and light show, in the west we had thunder/lightning, purples, pinks, gold and mauves, while to the east the big yellow orb moon. Spectactular start to the new decade. Until power went out for 9 hours.:p

Pictures are grainy (sadly), but a bit of an idea.

2010summer_044.jpg


2010summer_061.jpg
 
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