Last week, we were witness to a somewhat rare event: two full moons in the same month.  This has been referred to as a ‘blue moon’ however, it appears that that’s a bit of a misnomer.  A real ‘blue moon’ is actually the name given to the third full moon in a season where there are 4 full moons (as opposed to the usual 3 full moons a season).  A ‘real’ blue moon is a much rarer event however, the next will occur on August 21, 2013.  Contrary to the name, it is not actually blue.

But whatever you want to call it, I decided to get out on August 31st to try to get some pictures of this faux blue moon rising up over the horizon.  Alas, Mother Nature had other ideas.  I found a great spot (frequented by other astrophotographers) to set up my equipment.  The wind was howling though and it was clear that there was an awful lot of haze on the horizon.  Turning my back to the east and facing the western horizon, I was able to get some beautiful shots of the Sun setting behind the city.  But the moonrise time came and went without any appearance and I was beginning to get discouraged.  Until, the palest of pale, white circles appeared through the haze approximately 15 min after the official moonrise time and about 10 degrees above the horizon in the eastern sky.  I still have a lot to learn about astrophotography and I definitely need to practice photography in general a bit more but I took my best picture just before leaving when the Moon had definitely risen above the haze.  Here’s the untouched photo: