Agencies
Another blue moon will light up the sky on Saturday. The rare celestial event will occur for the second time within a calendar month. The last blue moon appeared on January 31.
"The occurrence of two blue moons in a calendar month is a rare phenomenon. Last, it happened in 1999. The next two blue moons in a calendar month will be witnessed again in the year 2037 and 2094," said scientific officer Sumit Srivastava.
India Gandhi Planetarium and UP Amateur Astronomers Club will install four telescopes at the Clock Tower park for people to witness the celestial show. No registration fee will be charged. The skywatch will begin at 6:30pm and continue till 9:30pm. The best view is expected around 6.30pm, Srivastava added.
Explaining the phenomenon, Srivastava said, "A blue moon does not mean that the moon turns blue in colour. The blue colour is dependent on atmospheric factors like when the atmosphere is filled with dust or smoke particles of a certain size. The moon gets slightly wider than 900 nm and appears blue."
He said dust particles scatter the red light, making the moon to appear blue. This is known as Mie scattering, and can happen, for instance, after a duststorm, forest fire, or volcanic eruption. A blue moon happens, on average, once every 2.7 years, he added. The celestial show of January 31 was very rare because the Supermoon, blue moon and total lunar eclipse occurred simultaneously. That had happened after 174 years.
|
