Rare Blue 'Sturgeon' Moon Overhead North Texas Sunday
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The full moon tonight is called a "sturgeon" moon.
In the Great Lakes, this is peak Sturgeon fishing season. Go out and take a look, it is also a rare "seasonal blue moon."
Full moons occur when the moon sits exactly opposite the side of Earth from the sun. Basically, we get 12 full moons a year or one a month. That breaks down to three full moons each season.
You probably know "blue moons" as the second full moon in the same month, but there is an older definition of a blue moon. This is when the third moon of any season is not the last full moon for that season. There will be another full moon before the fall equinox so this is the seasonal blue moon.
And oddly enough, the moon isn't blue at all, it's just a term used ironically in an anti-clerical pamphlet in the 1500s.
