Rare Halloween blue moon to be seen on October 31, first in decades

Sky watchers can look forward to seeing the blue moon on October 31. The moon, though, will not look blue. A blue moon refers to the second full moon in a month while the first is called harvest moon. This October 1 saw a full moon, while the next will be seen on October 31.

It is a rare phenomenon given it’s happening on Halloween. The last time a Halloween blue moon was seen across all time zones was in 1944. The Halloween blue moon that occurred in 2001 was seen only in Central and Pacific time zones, according to farmersalmanac.com.

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According to a blog post by NASA, a blue moon occurs about every two and a half years. After 2020, blue moons will be seen in August 2023, May 2026, and December 2028. The next time when a blue moon will coincide with Halloween will be in 2039, according to the US space agency.

There were two blue Moons in 2018: the first one was on January 31 and the second on March 31. This is because the preceding month (February) had 28 days, according to scientists.

2020 saw 13 full moons, including three super moons (seen in March, April, and May); four lunar eclipses and a blue moon.