Rains Retreat service, Super Blue Moon

Supermoon rises over Los Angeles' snow covered San Gabriel Mountains behind the megacity

Full moon, Surprise, AZ, on 8/1/23 (Diannie Chavez, The Arizona Republic via USA Today)

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Where is the Moon Goddess?

A rare sky spectacle will occur Monday night that (probably) won't happen again for years:

A full moon that can be called both a "supermoon" and "blue moon" will grace the night skies over the U.S.

Dubbed a "super blue moon," the rare combination occurs when the different cycles of blue and supermoons happen to align on the calendar, says NASA's Noah Petro, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter project scientist.

• [Blue moon: second full moon in same month (moonth). Super moon: a larger than average moon that's closer.]
• Who is it the lunar deity? Luna, Chandra, Soma?

If that's not confusing enough, astronomers also have varying definitions for what counts as a supermoon and what counts as a blue moon. (Just last year a full moon met the criteria for both, by some definitions). Here's why Monday's full moon is special:

What is a supermoon?

What's super about it? Its size from proximity

When the moon’s orbit brings it closer to Earth than usual, this cosmic combo is called a supermoon. A supermoon occurs when the moon’s orbit is closest to Earth at the same time the moon is full.

The term was coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979. "Different publications use slightly different thresholds for deciding when a full moon is close enough to the Earth to qualify as a supermoon," NASA explains.

"Because the orbit of the moon is not a perfect circle, the moon is sometimes closer to the Earth than at other times during its orbit."

• Related video: A rare super blue moon is about to happen (The Weather Channel)

When the moon reaches its closest point to Earth, about 226,000 miles away, full moons appear larger and brighter than at other times. A supermoon will appear 30% brighter and 14% larger than a typical full moon.

What is a blue moon?

Yes, look! It's all blue in color and cloudy!

There are two types of blue moons, seasonal and monthly. The one Monday will be of the seasonal variety. A seasonal blue moon occurs when there are four full moons in a single season (on this occasion, summer). When this happens, the third of the four is considered a blue moon.

The second definition – which arose from a misunderstanding of the original – is the monthly blue moon, referring to the second full moon in any single calendar month.

In either case, blue moons earn their reputation for being rare because of a quirk in the typical rhythm of one full moon per month [which always only had one full moon until the Vatican thrust the Gregorian Calendar on the world and divorced us from our planet's natural timekeeper].

The moon's cycle takes 29.5 days [28 days by our count of four weeks in a moonth, which means the time between full moons].

But, as Missouri State University Professor of Astrophysics Mike Reed notes, months [in the convoluted Gregorian Calendar] can have 28, 29, 30, or 31 days [to keep the number of days in a year with only 12 rather than the natural 13 moons that there should or used to be, given than 13x28=364+1 New Year turnaround day].

The two cycles create odd mismatches resulting in one more moon in a season or month than is typical – and that's a blue moon. Months usually have only one full moon – unless there's a (monthly) blue moon.

And seasons typically have three full moons – unless there's a (seasonal) blue moon.

Blue moons are not blue in color. Monday's full moon is unlikely to appear blue: Blue-colored moons in photos are usually made using special blue camera filters or photo editing apps.

Launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Starlink 8-9 mission, Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, July 3, 2024, viewed from the Banana River.

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How rare is a super blue moon? When will the next one occur? "It's tricky to answer, because it depends on your definition of a supermoon and a blue moon," Edward Bloomer, senior astronomy manager at the U.K.'s Royal Observatory Greenwich told USA TODAY via e-mail.

The answer is different depending on whether you're talking about a seasonal blue moon or a monthly blue moon. If you tweak what counts as a supermoon, the answer also changes.

In general, a blue moon happens once every two or three years on average, according to NASA. The time between super blue moons can be as much as 20 years – but in general, 10 years is the average.

So when will the next super blue moon actually occur? A safe bet is January 2037, according to NASA. However, depending on what you count as a super blue moon, you may hear of another one rising before then. Source

Rains Retreat (Vassa) Buddhist Observance Day (Uposatha)

The Buddha under full moon (JUNAIDI/DeviantArt)

Every seven days, observant Buddhists honor the lunar observance day (the sabbath, which stands for "Saturday," the holy day of the Bible in Abrahamic faiths before it was changed to the Son's day without anybody noticing other than Jews, Seventh Day Adventists, and diehard Christian sects). This is weekly and in accord with the phases of the Moon (Soma/Chandra, Luna) everyone can look up and see. Of all four in a month, of particular significance is the one that falls on the full moon. It is kept in the same way, observing the Eight Precepts and "fasting" after noon (only eating between sunup and midday). It is a day to visit the monastery (vihara), nunnery, pagoda, or temple to study, hear the Dharma (Dhamma in the form of Bana or instruction), ask questions, practice meditation, and observe the additional precepts.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Monday's rare super blue moon is a confounding statistical marvel

• Doyle Rice, USA TODAY, Aug. 17, 2024; Sheldon S., Dhr. Seven, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly