Is There Really a Blue Moon?

My friends were talking about tonight's blue moon and how the moon will go from white to blue for a moment. Is there ever really a blue moon? I never heard about it in school and the moon turning blue? That's so strange, I don't believe it will happen.

If you want to get technical, blue moons do happen once in a while.

When two full moons occur during the same calendar month (if you're keeping records, you'll want to mark December 2009 as a blue moon month), the second of these is usually referred to as the blue moon. Most years will have twelve full moons and these lunar cycles occur monthly. At the end of the regular calendar year there's a buildup of around 11 days and it's the accumulation of these extra days over a period of two or three years that gives us an extra full moon.

December, 2009 will bring an end to the blue moons season with the second of its full moons occurring on December 31st (December had its first full moon on the 2nd day of the month). We'll have to wait until August of 2012 before we see the next blue moon season.