A Month Without a Full Moon
February 2018 :
Note: This article may contain outdated information
This article was published in the February 2018 issue of The Skyscraper and likely contains some information that was pertinent only for that month. It is being provided here for historical reference only.
I’m not sure if any of you have checked for the date of February’s Full Moon, but the one listed for February is on March 1st. As February only has 28 days, and our lunar cycle takes 29 ½ days, there’s got to be some times when February must do without one. Surprisingly, it isn’t as often as you might think. The last one happened in 1999, and we have until 2037 for it to happen again.
In fact, between 2000 and 2999, only 48 Februarys will be without a full Moon, and three of them will be leap years. The last 29-day month without a full Moon was in 1608, although I was quite surprised at this date, as I really believed I remembered February, 1980 not having one. The problem with that, of course, is that the Full Moon didn’t take place here, but astronomical occurrences are dated according to Greenwich Mean Time, or the time in England, and they squeaked by with one. With that in mind, the next scheduled full Moonless 29-day February will be 2572.
Of course, what this timing does this year is give us two Full Moons during both January and March. The second full Moon of each in regular parlance is often referred to as a blue Moon, one of two definitions for this term. Where this name came from, no one is really sure, although there are people who seem to be able to discern a bluish color to our neighbor, although not necessarily during these times.
And, although it is now history for us, the last full Moon in January had with it a total lunar eclipse, but, of course, being New England, it occurred after moonset, and it was most likely cloudy anyway. But, don’t worry: We only have a year to wait, as the next total lunar eclipse visible from here will be Sunday night, January 20-21, 2019.
