May 21, 2016: This evening was a wonderful evening for sky-watchers: The full moon tonight was a Blue Moon, and Mars shone bigger and brighter than it has in two years.
According to our local weatherman, tonight's moon was designated "blue" for two reasons: 1. It is a rare third of four full moons in a season. (There are usually only three full moons in a season, but about every 2-3 years we get four. The third one gets that "blue" designation.) 2. It is the second full moon in this calendar month; that won't happen again until January 31, 2018.
As for Mars, it is shining brightly now because this is Mars’ closest orbit to Earth since 2005. It will be at its absolute closest on May 30, 2016, when it will be about 47.2 million miles from Earth.
I and my family headed outdoors as the sun was setting, hoping to get a photo of the moon and Mars as they cleared the horizon. Both shone beautifully!
