On Tuesday, January 30,2018 the Salem Astronomy Club will be holding a Blue Moon viewing at the Historic Salem Court House in Salem New York.

The Salem Astronomy Club will have a few telescopes set up for lunar viewing. The viewing will begin at 4:15 pm. and conclude before 6 pm.
Moon rise is at 4:14 pm. and the sun will be setting at 5:03 pm that day.

A Blue Moon is when two full moons happen in the same calendar month.
Blue Moons are not as rare as the old saying "once in a blue moon" implies; they happen about once every 2.7 years.

There is a lunar eclipse the following day (January 31), however this event will not be visible for long to those of us living in the eastern portion of North America. We will see the moon enter Earth's penumbra (the lighter, outer part of its shadow) at 5:51 a.m. on Jan. 31. The penumbra darkens the moon only a little; unless you're especially keen eyed, it is often difficult to notice. The moon will touch the umbra, the darker part of the shadow that gives the eclipse the distinctive look of darkening and reddening the moon, at 6:48 a.m. local time. But the moon sets only 16 minutes later making this a difficult event to witness.

The Blue Moon viewing is a clear to a partly cloudy sky viewing session. A 100% overcast sky will cause the event to be cancelled.

Bill Frederick
Salem Astronomy Club
wfrederi@wildblue.net