Get ready for Friday’s ‘blue moon’

TORONTO – You may be hearing about the blue moon this month, but don’t be surprised when you look up to the sky and see nothing different.

That’s because the “blue moon” has come to mean something quite simple: two full moons in a month. Get it? It happens once in a blue moon?

READ MORE: 5 reasons to look at the night sky (not just when it’s a ‘supermoon’)

In this case, the first full moon of July occurred on July 1. The second will occur on July 31.

However, that’s not to say the moon has never been blue.

When Krakatoa erupted in 1883, the volcanic ash shot about 80 km into the sky. This was an enormous explosive force: the shock wave circled the globe three times. All that ash that rose into the upper atmosphere, creating spectacular sunsets, rare electric-blue clouds — and a blue moon.

There have been reports of actual blue moons due to monsoon dust and even forest fires that caused the phenomena across Canada in the early 1950s.

The last time there were two full moons in one month was August 2012. The next one will be in January 2018 and then again in March 2018.

So when you go outside on July 31, don’t expect to see anything different. Though the moon is still pretty impressive without it actually being blue.

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