While humans may look at the Halloween Blue Moon as a “cool” and “scary” scenario, Mother Nature is thinking more along the lines of “romance.” Kind of reminds me of an old saying and song, “to each his own!”
STORY BEHIND PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Phases 1 & 2
PHASE 1
I was sleeping nicely on Friday, “snug as a bug in a rug” when suddenly I am experiencing a constant thumping on my leg. I wake up and look down the bed and see my cat Lucy. She is stretched out, sound asleep and her leg is twitching constantly up against mine! Must be having a nightmare or something!
Okay, now I am awake. Let me check the time and I will check the temperature to see how cold it got: 5:30 a.m. and it is COLD! 24 degrees! That is pretty cold even in the winter! And I also saw a full moon and remembered this was the Halloween Blue Moon!
I think, why not go out and get some photos? Just in case it clouds up for Halloween night!
I head out and about, take photos in the fields by my house, make several stops in Panther Valley, visit the golf course, the new Mallard Drive atop the ridge, BUT I was getting the feeling my photos were not coming out really well – other than the moon!!
It was starting to get a little brighter as dawn approached and I got on I-80 and headed for the Hope-Great Meadows Road Scenic Overlook, wondering how close the moon will be to the Delaware Water Gap!
PHASE 2
7:30 p.m. Halloween night. Just returned from shopping and dinner and approaching my house. The moon has been in and out playing ‘peek-a-boo’ with the clouds. I decide to sit for a while in my SUV and see if I can get a photo of the moon … if it comes out from behind the clouds!!
Looks like I’m finally going to get lucky; I see the moon starting to come out from behind the clouds. Then I notice some deer in the field (below) and begin positioning myself, jockeying around with the SUV, trying to keep my headlights on the deer while also trying to keep the moon within the same photo! (All the while trying not to drive into the deep ditches along the road!) Get home and check out the photos: I am going to add these to my earlier Moon photos, thus completing my Halloween Blue Moon 2020 Story!
2020’s MOONS
As if 2020 isn’t weird enough, it’s a year with 13 full moons rather than 12 – and two of those occurred in October 2020! Let me point out a few unusual and interesting facts and coincidences, that occurred this past weekend. Events involving full moons and, in this case, THE HALLOWEEN BLUE MOON of 2020 OR, for those of you wanting to forget 2020, just the ole ‘HALLOWEEN BLUE MOON!’ This is a special event: Saturday night’s Blue Moon, which lit up the sky October 31,was the first full moon visible across the country on Halloween in 76 years. The last time a full moon was visible in every time zone fell on Halloween was 1944. The next time will come in 2039.
BLUE MOONS
QUESTION – What is a Blue Moon?
ANSWER – There are actually two definitions of a blue moon. Both are a type of full moon and have nothing to do with color. (If the moon looks blue, it is because of dust in the atmosphere.)
Definition #1: “Seasonal Blue Moon” is the third full moon of an astronomical season that has four full moons.
Definition #2: “Monthly Blue Moon” is the second full moon in a calendar month with two full moons.
Background of “Once in a Blue Moon:” Once in a Blue Moon means to do something very rarely. The phrase refers to the appearance of a second full moon within a calendar month, which happens about every 32 months! Want to modify the saying to something truly rare? Just say “Once in a Halloween Blue Moon!”
LUNAR TRACKING
In ancient times, it was common to track the changing seasons by following the lunar month rather than the solar year, which our modern calendar is based on. The full moons were given traditional names, many reflecting changing seasons and nature, like the Harvest Moon, Strawberry Moon or Snow Moon.
Keep in mind that the sun always rises and sets within the same day, but the moon may appear two times in the same day. For example, the first photos above were taken around 7:05 a.m. on Saturday when it was setting, but it rose again around 6 p.m. Saturday night!!
Here is a list of TRADITIONAL FULL MOON NAMES: (NOTE, after adding my second set of photos with the Buck & Doe, I am going to suggest adding another name to our Autumn months list of names – How about ‘Lover’s Moon’ / ‘Mating Moon’?!)
- Wolf Moon – January
- Snow Moon – February
- Worm Moon – March
- Pink Moon – April
- Flower Moon – May
- Strawberry Moon – June
- Buck Moon – July
- Sturgeon Moon – August
- Harvest Noon – September or October
- Full Corn Moon (Harvest) – September
- Hunter’s Moon (Harvest) – October
- Beaver Moon – November
- Cold Moon – December
NOTE: Every once in a while, February does not have a full moon! That is referred to as Black Moon. This last happened in 2018, and when this happens, both January and March will have two full moons each! Some people also call a second ‘New Moon’ in a month a black moon, similar to the blue moon. Some also use this to refer to NO new moons in a month. This could only happen in February and is kind of rare, meaning once every five to ten years.
Check out this link to explain the naming of the full moons!!
When looking at the moon this week, if you spot what looks like a fiery red star near it, that’s Mars. The red planet made its closest approach to earth earlier in October and is still shining bright in the night sky!
October’s first full moon was the harvest moon on October 1, the name given to the full moon occurring closest to the autumnal equinox. The full HARVEST MOON rose at 5:05 p.m. ET on Oct. 1. The name is given to the full moon that occurs closest to the autumnal equinox. In 2019, the full harvest moon occurred on Friday, September 13.
Please also check out the July 31, 2015, Blue Moon over Allamuchy on my Flickr site.
“Be wary, there may still be some spirits roaming around in the moon-lit night!” Those were my original closing remarks for this article. I would like to now amend those to these possibilities: “There are two sides to every story!” or, maybe, “There are two sides to every blue moon!” OR “Underneath the moon of love!”
Enjoy Your Open Space
Charlie Fineran
Charlie Fineran is Allamuchy’s Director of Open Space, Allamuchy Township Environmental Commission Chairman and Allamuchy Historical Society President.
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