This Weekend’s Blue Moon Won’t Look Blue, But It Will Be May’s Second Full Moon

A true blue moon—the second full moon in May—will light the sky this weekend, peaking around 4:45 a.m. ET Sunday; it won’t look blue to the naked eye. The moon will be near apogee, creating a micromoon and sitting about 252,334 miles from Earth, so it may appear slightly smaller, though the change is hardly noticeable. In the Americas, the full Moon is most prominent late May 30 (into May 31 elsewhere). A calendrical blue moon occurs roughly every two to three years, and the term comes from historic almanacs; a true blue tint is rare (as after Krakatoa in 1883). The next calendrical blue moon isn’t until 2037.