Breathtaking photos capture rare blue moon

The Blue Moon of July 31 wowed skywatchers around the world.

The term made its first recorded appearance in America around that time in the Maine Farmers’ Almanac, which defined a “blue moon” as the third full moon in a three-month season that has four moons rather than the usual three, the Christian Science Monitor’s Husna Haq reports.

The dark blue tone of an evening sky can affect the coloring we perceive, as well.

Friday is technically the Blue Moon, or the second full moon of the month. Most years only have 12 full moons but this year has 13 and the next Blue Moon is not expected to happen until 2018.

So, the term “blue moon” – as in “once in a blue moon“, which means something somewhat rare – must be a way of accounting for that “13th” full moon.

“This Blue Moon is sentimental to me because the last one I saw was August 20, 2013″, Chapman wrote in an email. But an incorrect description – of two full moons in one month – appeared in a magazine article in 1946 and has stuck around. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) The moon shines over the O2, London, the night before a blue moon. July’s full moon is known as the Buck Moon or the Thunder Moon.

Magical blue moon at twilight in New York City.

Unlike a blood moon, which recently had doomsday prophecies attached to it, the blue moon could be good for you, astrologically speaking.

Forest fires can also have the same effect.

However, it was not until the 1980s that the current meaning of blue moon as the second full moon in a calendar month took hold in the public imagination.

Although the blue moon has no major significance to astronomers, it is considered highly important by astrologers who regard it as an omen of upset, change and possibility.

Meanwhile, the native American Algonquin people named all full moons – from the Wolf Moon in January right through to the Cold Moon in December.

Some moon revelers like Elisa Barnes-Shizak, toasted the Blue Moon with a frosty beverage.

Once in a blue moon I spoil myself with a rich dessert. The moon can appear blue (or green) after a volcanic eruption that emits particles into the air, which scatter red light. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the color of the moon will likely appear to be pale grey and white, just like the one you’re used to seeing on any other night.

Plumes of ash rising high into the atmosphere acted like a filter only allowing blue moonlight to pass through the tiny particles.