(Radio Iowa) – Forecasters say there’s a chance of showers tomorrow (Saturday) night across most of Iowa, but if there’s a break in the clouds, observers looking skyward will be treated to a gorgeous full moon, a rarity called a blue micromoon. Astronomer Paul Temple says the term “blue moon” has been around for decades, like in the phrase “once in a blue moon,” meaning something is very infrequent.
“It was just the idea that you had two full moons in the same month,” Temple says. “There was some significance to that at one time. People thought that if you had two blue moons, something bad could happen and all that, but it’s pretty much just the way our calendar works.” This will also be a micro-moon because the full moon will occur when the moon is farthest from the Earth, making it look slightly smaller. Temple says the term blue micromoon may be getting attention mostly because of its name.
“However, I’m not against that because the more people that pay attention to the sky and the things that happen there the better,” Temple says. If the weather permits, Iowans should be able to see the blue micromoon Saturday night and early Sunday morning. We also had a full moon back on May 1st, what was considered a Flower Moon.
