 This past month a phenomenon known as a blue moon occurred and people were asking me what is a blue moon? Does it turn the moon blue? How do you observe a blue moon? Well in this space pod we're going to talk about that and also some of the other moons that are in our skies to be able to see. This is your space pod for August 7th, 2015. It's a common misconception that the moon actually turns blue during a blue moon. You see a blue moon is basically an extra moon in the calendar year, 13 full moons instead of 12 full moons. Although the modern idea of a blue moon, two full moons in the same month is actually a misconception, but it's one that we'll go ahead and roll with. Although the moon can appear to turn blue in color, this requires extremely fine particulate, usually smoke from a nearby fire or ash from a volcanic eruption. Conversely, a black moon is when two new moons occur in one month. Interestingly, the month of February will never have a blue or black moon since it's only 28 days. The next misconception is actually a fairly recent one and that is the tetrad of the four blood moons. You see there's been a perpetuation of this idea that four total lunar eclipses in a row, occurring from April 2014 to September of this year, is suddenly going to cause the end times to be ushered in and lots of bad things are going to happen. Because of this, the general term blood moon has now been used to identify lunar eclipses since every total lunar eclipse turns the moon a reddish color. This is due to scattering of light that filters through the Earth's atmosphere and eventually falls onto the moon. I'm not so sure that you can exclusively single one out as being a blood moon because if you look at them all, they're all blood moons! Wet moons occur during its waxing crescent phase. The moon appears to be a bowl or in the shape of a smile and this leads to it also being called a Cheshire Moon. A wet moon is routinely visible in the tropical latitudes of the Earth. Anywhere else on the planet we'll see them based upon the positions of the Earth and the moon in our respective orbits. Super moons are when the moon is full at perigee, or the closest point in the moon's orbit to the Earth. Although they can be a little bit brighter, there's no real noticeable difference in size or effect from the moon being approximately 50,000 kilometers closer. And just for fun, let's review the phases of the moon. We've got new moon! When the moon is between the Earth and the Sun with no apparent illumination, followed by waxing crescent, waxing indicating the phase of the moon is getting larger. Then we arrive at first quarter. Well named since it's a quarter of the way through the lunar cycle. Waxing gibbous continues to grow the moon until we reach full moon. Waning gibbous is next, waning indicating that the phase of the moon is getting smaller. Then third quarter, also well named as we're three quarters of the way through the lunar cycle. Then waning crescent with just a sliver left. Then back to new moon. And once again through the phases. Thanks for watching this space pod. I'm Jared Head. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe to us on social media. And we can't make these awesome space pods without the support of our Patreons. Thank you guys! And if you got a little extra, maybe help us out a little bit and donate to that Patreon campaign. Good stuff. So, until next week, keep exploring.