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Blue moon on Halloween a celestial rarity

A rare blue moon is set to rise over Minot Halloween night. Kim Fundingsland/MDN

Halloween arrives at the end of this week. In this COVID crazy year, there’s some fairly odd occurrences on the Saturday schedule, too. The reality is, it will be quite a mixture of celestial happenings.

Saturday will see a “once in a blue moon” event come true. The full moon that arrives over Minot Saturday will be the second full moon of October. That makes it a blue moon, a designation reserved for those rare months for such an occurrence of having two full moons on a single calendar page. The moon was also full on Oct. 1.

Now add in Halloween and you really get an oddity. The average appearance for a blue moon is once about every 2.7 years but to have a full moon fall on Halloween is even more rare. Fact is, we won’t see a full moon on Halloween again until 2039.

The last time a blue moon of any kind happened was in March 2018. Blue moons occur because calendar months and lunar months are not equal, not because the moon actually appears blue in color. The third full moon in a season that has four full moons is also sometimes referred to as a blue moon, but two full moons in the same month is the much more acceptable definition.

Full moon will be reached at 9:49 a.m. Saturday in Minot. Sunrise that day is 8:29 a.m., meaning the full moon will arrive after the sun comes up. Minot’s sunset on Halloween is 6:28 p.m. with dark and spooky conditions to follow, including the haunting rise of the blue moon at 6:59 p.m. which, if the skies are clear, should cast an unusual glow over Halloween night.

According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac next year’s October full moon will occur on the 20th. In years 2022-2024 the moon will become full on Oct. 9, 28 and 17 respectively.

Now to add a bit more to think about for the upcoming weekend. Daylight savings time ends early Sunday morning. That’s right. While sunrise Saturday will be at 8:29 a.m. it’ll occur at 7:31 a.m. Sunday when the clocks are turned back one hour. Sunset will then happen at a very early 5:27 p.m.

One more thing, the blue moon on Halloween will also be the smallest full moon on the year.

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