Once in a blue moon

January 31^st was a rare and beautiful night for most of the country. The night was titled by NASA as well as a majority of major media outlets as a “super blue blood moon”. Say that three times fast.

A super blue blood moon occurs when the moon is at a total lunar eclipse (which makes it blood orange), when it is at its perigee (which basically means it is huge), and when it is a second full moon in a calendar month. This is an incredibly rare occurrence. So rare, the last time it happened was in 1982 and won’t happen again until 2037.

So, lets break this down for less (lunar)tics.

We have a lunar eclipse. Which occurs when the moon (hence in the “lunar” in “lunar eclipse”) passes within the Earth’s shadow. In the beginning, the shadow the Earth is creating is making the moon appear darker. As the shadow starts to cover the moon more and more, this turns the moon into a dark orange red color. The closer you are to the northern tip of the moon, the more colored it looks.

The super moon happens when the moon is the closest distance to the Earth in its cycle. It’s 7% larger than in average.

Lastly, the blue moon. Ever heard the phrase, “once in a blue moon”? This actually comes from space! Essentially, it’s a second full moon in a month. Super rare.

Mushing all of these things together in a weird and crazy coincidence makes a super blue blood moon and one heck of an experience.