OCTOBER’S Full Hunter’s Moon peaks this week – but exactly when is this month’s Full Moon and what is the meaning behind its strange name?
A rare Full Moon arrives in the skies this Saturday offering an extremely eerie way to celebrate Halloween 2020. And this cosmic occurrence is all the more special as the night of October 31 actually coincides with a Blue Moon.Astronomy experts estimate such a serendipitous event – with a Blue Moon illuminating Halloween – as taking place approximately once every 19 years.
Every month of the year has its own Full Moon, but October 2020 is a little more special than most.
This because the lunar cycle and the Gregorian calendar do not exactly align.
Full Moons actually occur exactly every 29.5 days – which is when Earth’s natural satellite arrives on the opposite side of our planet.
When this happens, its pockmarked lunar face is totally illuminated by the Sun.
But when a second Full Moon occurs in a single calendar month – as in the case in October 2020 — it is colloquially dubbed a Blue Moon.
To clear-up any confusion, this it completely unrelated to the colour of our celestial orb.
Most of us have likely heard the phrase “once in a Blue Moon,” which is understood by all as something rare and occurring infrequently.
