Generally, a month only has 1 Full moon. However, once every couple of years, a month will have 2 Full moons. This occurrence is called a "Blue Moon". This usage results from a misinterpretation of the traditional definition of blue moon in the March 1946 issue of Sky and Telescope.
A blue moon occurs only every two or three years, and the term blue moon is used colloquially to mean a rare event, as in the phrase "once in a blue moon".
The apparent colour of the moon, at any time of the year, can be affected by atmospheric circumstances. Volcanic eruptions and exceptionally large fires can leave particles in the atmosphere which give the sky, and thus the Moon, a tinge of blue (or other colours).
Read more about Blue Moon: Origin, Early English and Christian Usage, Maine Farmers' Almanac Blue Moons, Visibly Blue Moon, Blue Moons Between 2009 and 2021, Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words blue and/or moon:
“Sometimes we see a cloud that’s dragonish,
A vapor sometimes like a bear or lion,
A towered citadel, a pendant rock,
A forked mountain, or blue promontory
With trees upon ‘t that nod unto the world
And mock our eyes with air. Thou hast seen these signs;
They are black vesper’s pageants.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Though it seems improbable on the face of it
You must master the huge retards and have faith in the slow
Blossoming of haystacks, stairways, walls of convolvulus,
Until the moon can do no more. Exhausted,
You get out of bed. Your project is completed
Though the experiment is a mess.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)