Lunar event happens ‘once in a blue moon’…

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While a blue moon consistently gives poets fodder and feeds the imagination of stargazers, its presence is a scientific marker for a rotating earth that by its own clock, ignores the Julian calendar.
And only once in every 20 years, the blue moon appears on New Year’s Eve, as it will this year.
“The moon is out of phase with the days – for it to make its complete cycle it’s about 28 days. It doesn’t coincide with our month, and that’s why it is out of sync with our Julian calendar,” explained retired high school science teacher Bob Hartley “It’s simply the occurrence of two full moons in one month.”
The moon brings with it heightened energy for tides and ushers in new weather patterns. This year’s tide will be minus 4.5 feet, the lowest of the month, at 8:18 a.m. on Dec. 31. High tide that day will be 20.8 feet at 1:37 p.m., though it isn’t the month’s highest tide.

(via homertribune)