01 View of Blue Moon, Super Moon at 02.30 AM, on August 19/20, New Delhi, 2024
Blue Moon, Super Moon, August 19/20, 2024
-Rohit Kumar Parmar [1]
Moon is Earth’s natural satellite and is an inspiration for forms of art and literature - paintings, poetry, sculpture, stories, tales; romantic songs in Indian movies, in all languages. It also impacts sciences – astrology, geography and physics. While a view of full Moon in high rise cities is difficult to enjoy, a walk/ drive along an open area on a full Moon night can be romantic.
The word चन्द्र (Chandra) means bright, shining or glittering and is used for the Moon in Sanskrit, Indian and South Asian languages, which have a link to Sanskrit. It is also the first, middle and surname for both men and women. Some of the synonyms of Chandra include चंद्र, चाँद, चंदा, इन्दु, शशि, रजनीश, रजनीपति, रजनीकर, राकेश, राकापति, छपाकर, निशाकर, निशापति, विधु, मयंक, मृगांक, सुधांशु, सुधाकर, सुधाधर, सोम, हिमांशु, हिमकर, शशांक, दधिसुत, कलानिधि, क्षपानाथ, तारापति, ओषधीश, औषधिपति ।
Moon, especially Poornima (full Moon) fascinates us with its soft brightness, glow, and luminosity and instils a sense of creativity. Moon as we all learnt does not have its own light and reflects the light of Sun, which appears in different colours, as a result of atmospheric conditions, volcanic ashes and smoke, water droplets in the air, or certain types of clouds. Moon could be black/ dark, grey, orange, pink, red, silver, yellow and white in colour.
Blue coloured Moons are rare and have nothing to do with the calendar or the Moon's phases, but are a result of factors listed above.
An enthusiastic photographer captured pictures of 48 colours of the Moon over ten years, and shared them in 2021. This author captured a picture of an aircraft with a blue moon, super moon in the background on August 19/20, 2024.
02 An aircraft with a Blue Moon, Super Moon in the background at 02.30 AM, on August 19/20, New Delhi, 2024
03 Strawberry Moon on 24 June 2021, partly hidden by clouds
Moon has been assigned different names for a variety of reasons. Strawberry Moon is not about the colour of the full Moon in the month of June, but relates to ancient traditions of Native American tribes that strawberries are ripe and ready to be gathered.
In Indian Astrology, Moon the second planet after Sun [2] in a set of nine planets (griha), and for the believer, is a factor impacting chest, happiness, left eye, material things, mental state, mind, morale, mother, peace, wealth, etc.
Rahu and Ketu are the north and south points of intersection of the paths of the Sun and the Moon, as they move in the celestial sphere. Rahu and Ketu also figure in the set of nine planets of Indian astrology.
Super Moon
The Moon’s perigee [3] with Earth is when the Moon is at its closest point to the Earth during a month. A Super Moon appears slightly (but distinctly) larger and brighter than a normal full Moon. The August 30, 2023 full Moon coincided with the Moon’s perigee, making it a Super Moon.
Blue Moon
The phrase `Once in a Blue Moon’ is often used to refer to things that happen very rarely. But the real meaning of Blue Moon does not actually involve the Moon turning Blue. Some believe that the term Blue Moon meaning something rare, may have originated when smoke and ashes after a volcanic eruption turned the Moon Blue.
There are two definitions of Blue Moon.
The first and more common definition of a Blue Moon is when a full Moon appears for the second time in a month. There was a full Moon on August 1, 2023 which makes the August 30, 2023 full Moon a Blue Moon.
The more popular definition of the Blue Moon, that of the second Full Moon in a month, owes its existence to a misinterpretation attributed to an amateur astronomer.
04 View of Blue Moon, Super Moon on August 30, 2023
A second definition of Blue Moon is the third Full Moon of a season that has four Full Moons. There are four seasons in the Gregorian (Solar) calendar, Spring, Summer and Winter. Each season has three full Moons, making it twelve. The third Moon is named Blue Moon so that the last full Moon can continue to be called with the proper name for that season.
The occurrence of a Blue Moon, by either definitions is because the Moon takes a little less than one month to orbit the Earth.
The Moon takes 27.3 days to orbit the Earth, and the lunar phase cycle lasts about 29.53 days. The lunar cycle takes a little longer because as the Moon is orbiting the Earth, the Earth is also orbiting the Sun, so the Moon needs to travel a bit further in its orbit to complete a lunar cycle.
The Moon phases of 29.53 days translates to 354 days to complete 12 lunar cycles. So every 2.5 years or so a 13th full Moon is observed within a calendar year.
In a month of 30 days, there can be two full Moons, as in August 2023 (1 and 30). Similarly in a season of three months, there can be four full Moons.
Super Moons are a lot more common. You can expect three or four every year. But a Blue Moon coinciding with a Super Moon is a very rare phenomenon.
Super Moon and Blue Moon of August 30, 2023
The full Moon on August 30, 2023 was both a Super Moon and a Blue Moon.
During 2023, there were 13 full Moons, 4 of which will be Super Moons (July 3, August 1 and 30 and September 29), one of which will be a Blue Moon and a Super Moon (August 30).
The August 30, 2023 full Moon coincided with the Moon’s perigee, making it a Super Moon.
Super Moon and Blue Moon of August 19/20, 2024
While the next monthly Blue Moon occurred on 19/20 August 2024, the next two Super Blue Moons will happen in January and March 2037.
The phenomenon of Blue Moons is not relevant in Lunar calendars, like the Vikram Samvat in India, where a month is determined by the duration of lunar rotation of 29.53 days which is equal to the rotation of the Moon and the question of a second full Moon in a month does not arise.
Lunar calendars, like the Vikram Samvat make adjustments in the calendar in the form of अधिक मास (adhika masa, extra month). During 2023, there was Adhika Masa from 18 July to 16 August, as an extra Shravan month.
Lyrics of चंदा मामा दूर के
चंदा मामा दूर के
पुए पकाए बूर के
चंदा मामा दूर के
पुए पकाए बूर के
आप खाए थाली मे
मुन्ने को दे प्याली मे
आप खाए थाली मे
मुन्ने को दे प्याली मे
चंदा मामा दूर के
पुए पकाए बूर के
प्याली गयी टूट
मुन्ना गया रूठ
प्याली गयी टूट
मुन्ना गया रूठ
लाएँगे नयी प्यालिया
बजा-बजा के तालिया
लाएँगे नयी प्यालिया
बजा-बजा के तालिया
मुन्ने को मनाएँगे
हमदूध मलाई खाएँगे
चंदा मामा दूर के
पुए पकाए बूर के
आप खाए थाली मे
मुन्ने को दे प्याली मे
चंदा मामा दूर के
पुए पकाए बूर के
उड़नखटोले बैठ के
मुन्ना चंदा के घर जाएगा
उड़नखटोले बैठ के
मुन्नाचंदा के घर जाएगा
तारो के संग आँख मिचौली
खेल के दिल बहलाएगा
खेल कूद से जब मेरे मुन्नेका
दिल भर जाएगा
ठुमक-ठुमक मेरा मुन्ना
वापस घर को आएगा
चंदा मामा दूर के
पुए पकाए बूर के
हो चंदा मामा दूर के
पुए पकाए बूर के
आप खाए थाली मे
मुन्ने को दे प्याली मे
आप खाए थाली मे
मुन्ने को दे प्याली मे
चंदा मामा दूर के
हो पुए पकाए बूर के
[1] Author, Freelance, Indian Economic Service (Retired), former Senior Economic Adviser, Government of India, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and former Adviser (P 4) UNDP, Yemen has in posts
on his website (https://rohitkparmar.wixsite.com/site),
YouTube channel (https://youtube.com/@rohitkparmar),
X (formerly twitter) (https://twitter.com/rohitkparmar?s=09),
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/rohit.parmar.5268750/),
been writing/sharing varied topics and
can be reached at rohitkparmar@yahoo.com.
[2] Both Sun and Moon are not Planets as defined in the Solar system.
[3] The point in the Moon's orbit where it is farthest from the earth is called apogee, while its closest approach is known as perigee.
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