No, we’re not talking about the Colorado-based beer brand, we mean the rare occurrence where two full moons appear in the same calendar month. And the next blue moon just so happens to fall on this year’s Halloween.
This event has a pretty inaccurate name though, since the second moon isn’t actually blue, as awesome as that would be. To make things even more confusing, the moon can appear blue for completely unrelated reasons, such as atmospheric dust particles creating a color filter for the moon’s light. Still, no amount of strange naming decisions stops the actual blue moon from being a spooky oddity that will be perfect for the season.
This astrological surprise last occurred on March 31st, 2018 and is not projected to be seen again until August 22nd, 2021, according to earthsky.org. It seems that a blue moon really does only occur once in a… well, you get the idea.
The blue moon is only one of many reasons to look forward to this year’s Halloween, though. Many of the holiday’s enthusiasts have expressed excitement on social media at 2020’s event also featuring an extra hour at 2 A.M. due to daylight savings coinciding with the additional full moon. It also falls on a Saturday, giving adults more time to party and children more time to trick-or-treat without having to hear about school nights.
Unfortunately, most of North America still remains harshly affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and evidence that this may change before October 31st remains scarce. But if we all continue to practice social distancing and exercise the necessary precautions, we’ll hopefully be able to spend Halloween watching the blue moon together with our friends.
