Blue Micromoon

About Blue Micromoon

• A micromoon is a full or new moon that occurs when the moon is roughly at its farthest from Earth in its orbit.
• Why does it happen: The moon’s orbit around Earth isn’t a perfect circle. It takes about a month to orbit Earth once.
  •  So the moon has a nearest point (perigee) and a farthest point (apogee) each month.
  • When the moon reaches a fully illuminated phase within a short time of apogee, it appears smaller-than-usual. This is why it is called a full micromoon. 
  • Note: The moon is about 363,711 km away at its closest to Earth, known as perigee.
    • A supermoon occurs when the moon passes through or is close to its perigee.
    • At apogee, or the furthest point, the moon is about 403,945 km away.
• There’s no strict definition of how close to apogee the moon should be to be called a micromoon.
• Rare event: A blue micromoon occurs about once every couple of decades.

About Blue Moon

• A Blue Moon refers to a situation in which two full moons occur within the same calendar month.
• Since the lunar cycle from one new moon to the next lasts about 29.5 days, a full moon that appears on the 1st or 2nd day of a month can be followed by another full moon on the 30th or 31st.
• This phenomenon occurs roughly every two to three years.
• The moons not really turn blue rather, in some cases, smoke or dust particles in the atmosphere can scatter red wavelengths of light, causing the Moon to appear slightly bluer than usual in certain locations.