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May 12, 2006

Strange But True!

Q. “I'll marry you on a month without a full moon, and no sooner,” your sweetie says. She knows her heart and she knows her astronomy. So what's she trying to tell you?

A. This woman seems to want a Valentine's Day wedding since the only month with no full moon is February, with its 28 or 29 (leap year) days, says Suzanne Traub-Metlay of Fiske Planetarium, at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Yet a full cycle of lunar phases is 29.5 days. Most recently in 1999, January had two full moons, February had none and March also had two. The second full moon in a month is a “blue moon,” and while this is supposed to be rare, it occurs on average once every 2.7 years. A February without a full moon is much rarer — every 19 years or so.


 
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