A Special "Seasonal Blue Moon" Is Set For Sunday

DENVER(CBS)- Skies on Sunday should be clear enough for most of Colorado to get a great view of our August Full Moon! The Full Moon in the month of August is known as the "Sturgeon Moon".

The name was given to the moon in this month by early Native American tribes in the northeastern part of the United States. The reason, according to folklore is it is this time of year that large sturgeon fish in many lakes were most easily caught.

This year, the August moon is also what is called a "Seasonal Blue Moon". There are two types of Blue Moons. They are monthly and seasonal. The monthly is two full moons in one month.

The seasonal is a little more complicated. On the Astronomical calendar all of our seasons- winter, spring, summer and fall last three months each. Each running from a Solstice to an Equinox. In most years a season will have three full moons close to 30 days apart. This year we had a full moon just a few days after the summer solstice in June. The Autumnal Equinox will happen on September 22nd. That will allow for four full moons to occur in the summer season of 2021! In years like this the 3rd full moon in a 4 full moon season is known as the "Seasonal Blue Moon".

The Full moon this weekend will be seen with Jupiter and Saturn. The above Photo from Weather Watcher Mike Quaintance was taken Saturday 8/21/2021 you can see Jupiter in the upper left corner.