Message-Id: <l03102800b34c445964b0@[209.142.17.227]>
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 14:18:53 -0800
To: pinhole@exploratorium.edu
From: Ronald Wong <ronwong@inreach.com>
Subject: Once in a blue moon
It would seem that if Sky & Telescope confesses
>that a publication by them 53 yrs ago incorrectly explained a
>Blue Moon as the second full in a month.
then it would seem that they presently know the "correct" explanation -
otherwise how would they know that they were wrong in the first place?
So, does anyone know what they offered as the "correct" explanation?
When I was a kid, Charles Funk (of Funk & Wagnalls - remember them? Well,
no matter) cited a 16th century rhyme that went:
Yf they saye the mone is belewe,
We must beleve that it is true.
The "they" probably referring to the observations of mariners who noticed,
for many centuries before, that the moon can appear blue under the right
circumstances.
Immediately after a new moon, when the sky is UNUSUALLY clear, the entire
surface of the moon will have a bluish tinge with just a sliver of its face
illuminated. If you haven't spent some time on the open seas, at high
elevations, or in remote desert areas then the chances are you haven't seen
this phenomena. That's why it's considered "rare".
Look for it the next time you have an opportunity. It really isn't that
rare. You just have to know when to look. Remember - the air has to be
exceptionally clear.
It has also been said that since this occurs at the time of the new or
green moon ("green" in the sense of "new") and the moon appears round and
blue like a fresh round of blue cheese (we're talking about the "blue
moon") that, with time, the terms green, cheese, and moon came together in
a manner that lead some to believe that the moon was made of green cheese.
Or so I have been told.
ron