Blue moon 2018

January 31 2018 was quite exciting as there was a “super blue blood moon” . This is a combination of a super moon, blue moon and lunar eclipse.

A super moon is when the moon is at the closest point in its orbit around the Earth.

A blue moon is the 2nd full moon in a month. As full moons come around about every 29 days, most months only contain one. There was a full moon on 2 Jan so the one on the 31st qualifies as a blue moon. Incidentally there will be no full moon in Feb 2018.

A blood moon comes from the rusty red appearance during a total lunar eclipse, when the moon is in the Earth's shadow. See my blog of Sept 2015.

The lunar eclipse wasn't visible in the UK as it occurred during daylight. At least I saw the super blue moon (taken with a hand held camera) -