A Black Moon is Coming!

Have you heard of a Black Moon? I hadn’t. But we’re going to have one very early Saturday morning at 0106. Too bad it isn’t one day later so we could see it on All Members Night at CRO.

1 Like

oh, wow this is so cool, I didn’t know! I will be up late waiting for this one! Thanks for sharing.

Interesting phenom! But I guess as the article says, it’s not something one can see.

I read online we can probably see the outline from the Earthshine effects and possibly slim crescent edges around her. I will probably fall asleep at 9 o’clock and not make it outside at all. :rofl:

Marv thanks for clearing things up that you will not see anything at 1:06am since the Moon is below the horizon. You will also not see it when it rises right after the Sun rises.

1 Like

I’ll echo Dave here. Thanks Marv, for actually looking for when the moon sets and rises here. I did not take that step so didn’t realize that staying up for this in OKC is pointless.

Oh well. It’s still an interesting phenomenon that I’d never heard of. Guess we’ll have to wait till 2027 for the next chance to see one.

1 Like

For people stopping by and pondering the idea, here’s a quick illustration of why you can’t see a Black Moon (a special kind of New Moon related to the calendar) in the night sky. Below is a screenshot from Stellarium for this Friday at around 1:30pm from Oklahoma City, looking South and up towards the Sun. The object in the red crosshair is the Moon, right next to the Sun. The New Moon will occur about 12 hours later.

When we have a New Moon, it not only tells you that the moon won’t be lit up by sunlight, it tells you where the Moon is in relation to the Earth-Sun system. If the side of the Moon we see is in shadow, that means that it has to be between the Earth and the Sun, with the far side of the Moon in full sunlight. So from Earth, the Sun and the Moon will appear near the same point in the sky.

During a New Moon, the moon is directly overhead around noon (or around 1pm with daylight savings). During the maximum point of a Full Moon, the Moon is directly overhead around midnight.


(Image credit: SBlanco - The Moon)

3 Likes

Maybe this is why I’d never heard of it before. It’s always on the far side of the earth at night. It needs to get a PR agent. That’s not the way to get folks to pay attention to you.

3 Likes