May full moon 3rd of season's 4 full moons
3 comments Print Me Email to FriendTonight's Sky for Monday, May 19 2008
Our chart shows the moon for around the middle of the night tonight. At this hour, the full moon shines pretty much due south and reaches its highest point for the night. Even though tonight presents the year’s smallest full moon, the lunar glare will still make it hard to see the J-shaped figure of the Scorpion.
This year’s May full moon is the 3rd of 4 full moons to occur between the March equinox and the June solstice. Normally, seasons have only 3 full moons. The 3rd of 4 full moons to fall in a single season is sometimes called a blue moon. Another definition – that the blue moon is the 2nd of 2 full moons to occur in the same calendar month – has become more popular in modern times.
Two hundred thirty five lunar months – successive returns to full moon – equal 19 calendar years. In 19 years, there are 76 seasons (19 years x 4 seasons/year = 76 seasons). If all 76 seasons had only 3 full moons, that would be 228 full moons. However, there are actually 235 full moons in this 19-year period, so these 7 extra full moons mean that 7 of these 76 seasons have to harbor 4 full moons!
nice video of columbia hills of mars..i wish somehow i could put a football on mars and when they do the flyby and see the football nasa would go crazy trying to explain the football
Dear Deborah Byrd,
Some years ago, I purchased the re-published National Geographic “Earth Moon Map” and have had it hanging in my bedroom opposite my bed so I could always see it.
Now, of course I’ve seen The Man in The Moon and The Rabbit and The Woman, but sometime last year maybe as recently as in the last 6 months, I realized that there is also another Man…The Basketball Player or The Juggler.
At first, I thought, oh someone must have seen this? I did a Google search and came up with nothing, checked with Astronomical League Lunar Club Chair, Steve Nathan, who wrote that it might be a re-discovery but that he had never heard of it and I never recall seeing it in Fred Schaaf’s books either.
My Basketball Player or Juggler can be seen at Full Moon.
Oceanus Procellarum makes his back with Mare Cognitum his right shoulder
and Mare Nubium his right elbow continuing into Sinus Aestuum & Sinus Medii his right hand.
His left shoulder and arm begins at Sinus Roris and continues through Mare Frigoris ending as his hand around the crater Aristotle.
His head is Mare Imbrium and left ear is Sinus Iridum. The basketball is Mare Serenitatis.
If you choose to see him as a juggler of course Mare Serenitatis is one giant ball with others being Mare Vaporum,
Mare Tranquillitatus, Mare Nectaris and Mare Crisium.
Hope that you can use this on your Stargzer show and of course at the Miami Space Transit Planetarium
Sincerely,
P Edward Murray
Past President,
Bucks-Mont. Astronomical Assoc., Inc.
P.S. If you would like, please e-mail me and I can send you a photo.
Joseph,
I guessed I missed the video, but I submit this fine Columbia Hills of Mars photo from David Darling’s Encyclopedia of Science.
P Edward,
Since you specifically wrote to Deborah, I’ll make sure to forward your correspondence to her. Speaking for myself, I’d love to see your photo. Meanwhile, to visualize the various depictions made out of the moon’s surface features, click here and scroll down to Pareidolia, and other things in the moon. Check out the listed external links too!
Bruce