Nothing like some blue moon news. He's talking about ice cream, right?

;-)

Angie

forwarded by the way ...

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:         Tomorrow Night's Moon - Full, at Perigee, and 'Blue'!
Date:   Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:33:04 +1100
From:   Greg and Joanna Eccleston <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To:       [log in to unmask]
To:





For those who are interested in things astronomical, tomorrow night's
full moon will be of special interest!

Full moons occur in mean periods of 29.53059 days, consequently there
can never be more than one full moon in the month of February.  The
second full moon in any other month is an unusual occurrence, and is
nowadays described as a 'blue moon'; Perry Vlahos in today's /Age/
explains the origin of this expression.  This year, there will be two
full moons (and hence 'blue moons') in both January and March!

In its elliptical path around the Earth, the Moon comes closest at
perigee.  The Moon returns to perigee in mean periods of 27.55455 days.
Amazingly, 14 returns to full moon almost exactly equal 15 returns to
perigee:  14 × 29.53059 = 413.428 days; 15 × 27.55455 = 413.318 days.

Using Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time (EDST), the relevant moon
events for early 2010 are as follows:

*January 2010:*
Full Moon 0614 hours 1/1/10
Full Moon ('blue moon') 1718 hours 30/1/10
Perigee 2004 hours 30/1/10 - distance = 356592 km.
(For Melbourne viewers, the Moon will rise at about 2029 hours on
30/1/10).  At moonrise, the Moon will appear larger than normal, due to
the usual illusion when it appears close to the horizon, but also
because it is closer than normal to Earth, being at perigee.

*March 2010:*
Full Moon 0338 hours 1/3/10
Full Moon ('blue moon') 1326 hours 30/3/10.

Greg Eccleston



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