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The blue moon’s similarly uncommon counterpart, the black moon, will ascend in Colorado’s atmosphere Monday evening, but it will not be visible.
While a blue moon represents the second full moon within a month, the black moon indicates the second new moon in the same month — or the third new moon in a season that has four, instead of the usual three — as per Time and Date.
New moons are relatively frequent, occurring approximately once every four weeks, but they only take place twice in the same month roughly every 29 months, according to Time and Date. The following monthly black moon won’t take place until Aug. 31, 2027.
Seasonal black moons are somewhat less common, happening about once every 33 months. The next seasonal black moon will rise on Aug. 23, 2025.
The second new moon of December will appear Monday at 3:27 p.m. Mountain Time, or 22:27 Universal Time, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory.
Regrettably, similar to any other new moon, tonight’s black moon will remain unseen in the sky.
New moons occur when the moon is positioned between the Earth and the sun, which means the moon’s illuminated surface faces away from the Earth, rendering it absent from the sky, as outlined by NASA.
This is contrary to a full moon, where the moon is situated on the opposite side of the Earth from the sun, fully illuminated, as NASA scientists have explained.
Another reason the black moon is undetectable is that it happens during the moon’s orbit when it occupies the same portion of the sky as the sun, getting obscured by the brightness of the daylight, according to Time and Date.
It is only during a solar eclipse that a new moon can be observed in the sky as it becomes visible as a silhouette.
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