The moon gets off the mark

Get ready for some lunar surprises this year: 2018 kicks off with a super moon and a blue moon in the first month alone! What is a blue moon? Have a look at the table: There will be two full moons in January, on the 2nd and the 31st. When two full moons occur in the same calendar month, the second is known as a blue moon. There is usually a blue moon once every three years (every 2,7 years to be exact), but there are exceptions to the rule. There are 29,5 days between one full moon and the next, but February is a short month so sometimes “February’s” full moon comes in late January as is the case here. 2018 is a bumper year for blue moons because there will be another one on 31 March. The full moon on 2 January will seem bigger and brighter than a normal full moon – commonly called a super moon. This phenomenon occurs when the moon’s orbit is at its closest point to earth. Astrologer Richard Nolle came up with the term in 1979 and he gave a fairly arbitrary definition: A super moon is a new or full moon that occurs when the moon is within 90 % of its closest approach to earth. According to his definition, the blue moon on 31 January will also qualify as a super moon since the moon will have reached its closest point to the earth on 30 January and will still be close by. The opposite of a super moon is a so-called “mini moon” – when the full moon is at its furthest point from earth on its orbit. This will take place on 26 August 2018.