Environment

Friday's 'Blue Moon' Could Actually Look Blue

Sometimes it’s not just a figure of speech.
A composite, digitally edited photo of a full moon in 2007.Dino Abatzidis/Flickr

The term “blue moon” describes a second full moon occurring in one month and, of course, an unusually long span of time.

But if conditions are right, this Friday’s blue moon—the first since August 2012 and the last until January 2018—might subtly look blue in parts of the world. That’s because tiny particles from an unusually active fire season are flooding the atmosphere, and potentially scattering red light to give the moon the impression of a floating blueberry.