from The Miami Herald

Once in a ‘blue moon’ happens Friday

This AP file photo from 2010 shows a blue moon from Nairobi, Kenya. There will be a blue moon Friday.This AP file photo from 2010 shows a blue moon from Nairobi, Kenya. There will be a blue moon Friday. Sayyid Azim AP

Full-moon lovers will get their fill this month, when the earth’s satellite makes its second July appearance on Friday.

Dubbed a blue moon — the special occasion happens only about every two-and-a-half years because the lunar year and calendar year don’t quite match up. The last blue moon was in August 2012 and the next won’t be until January 2018.

“It’s a rare lunar occurrence,” said Barb Yager, an officer with Miami-based Southern Cross Astronomical Society. “People get excited about it.”

The name is deceiving because the moon isn’t actually blue; it appears to have a bluish hue only if there is volcanic ash. In fact, the name has come to mean something that happens only once in a while.

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