Dubai: There were two full moons in January and two more are on the cards in March, but they seem to have given us the slip in February.
If you’re one of the many who love to do moon-gazing, especially on a full moon, you are in for disappointment as there won’t be one this month. After a rare celestial treat last month — the Super Blue Blood Moon — where there were two full moons in one calendar month, an occurance called the blue moon, along with a Supermoon and a total lunar eclipse, February will go without a full moon.
Alejandro Palado, observatory director at Al Sadeem Astronomy in Abu Dhabi, said a number of people have posed full moon queries this month.
“Many people are asking me when is the best time to go out and see the full moon this February 2018? A simple smile and a soft answer: ‘There is no full moon that will be shining in the sky this month,’” Palado told Gulf News.
Palado explained that, in an astronomical calendar, February 2018 happens to be an exceptional month because there is no full moon. This is a unique lunar phenomenon, according to astronomy experts, because it occurs only four times every 100 years.
The month of February is the only month that can have no full moon since it is the shortest month of the year. The average lunar cycle, or the phases of the moon, takes 29 and a half days.
Because there were two full moons in January, one on the 1st and another on the 31st, there aren’t enough days to complete the lunar cycle in February. Meaning, the next full moon will appear on March 1, followed by another one on March 31 — another blue moon.
The rest of the 11 months have 30 to 31 days, so full moons can occur within the calendar month.
Canadian astronomer David Chapman said the next time this rare lunar cycle will occur is only in February 2037. The last time there was no full moon in February was in 1999 and in 1980 before that.
A much rarer event is a leap year or a February with 29 days with no full moon. The last time this happened was in 1608, and the next time this will happen will be in 2572, according to reports citing the Journal of the British Astronomical Association.
