{"id":588247,"date":"2026-05-17T01:52:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T01:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/588247\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T01:52:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T01:52:15","slug":"a-rare-blue-moon-will-light-up-uk-skies-later-this-month-here-is-when-to-see-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/588247\/","title":{"rendered":"A rare blue moon will light up UK skies later this month \u2014 here is when to see it"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/WP-featured-size-72-1024x683.jpg\" class=\"wp-block-post-featured-image\" alt=\"A full moon against a very blue sky gradient\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a data-force-follow=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/secretldn.com\/author\/kim-bansi\/\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" data-lazy- class=\"avatar avatar-40 photo\" height=\"40\" width=\"40\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/8d0d2f2f9817b6a1b2011f8af0eb7f836c614eb909107ca54c6a685aa02de97d.png\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ever heard of the phrase \u201conce in a blue moon\u201d? Well, fun fact, it is linked to a pretty rare phenomenon that occurs when we experience two full moons in one month. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/secretldn.com\/may-activities-things-to-do-london\/\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\" class=\"shortcode-outbound-link\" data-has-ga=\"true\" data-ga-type=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/secretldn.com\/may-activities-things-to-do-london\/\" data-action=\"text_cta_0\" data-category=\"click_internal\">This May,<\/a> we are lucky enough to have two full moons lighting up the skies, with the blue moon appearing on 31 May 2026. <\/p>\n<p>How rare is a blue Moon? <\/p>\n<p>Having two full moons in one month is pretty rare, only occurring once every two to three years. However, in 2018, we had an extremely rare occurrence of two blue moons in <a href=\"https:\/\/secretldn.com\/free-things-to-do-london\/\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\" class=\"shortcode-outbound-link\" data-has-ga=\"true\" data-ga-type=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/secretldn.com\/free-things-to-do-london\/\" data-action=\"text_cta_1\" data-category=\"click_internal\">one year<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve already had a full moon this month with the <a href=\"https:\/\/secretldn.com\/micro-flower-moon-peaks-friday-uk\/\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\" class=\"shortcode-outbound-link\" data-has-ga=\"true\" data-ga-type=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/secretldn.com\/micro-flower-moon-peaks-friday-uk\/\" data-action=\"text_cta_2\" data-category=\"click_internal\">flower moon<\/a> peaking on 1 May. <\/p>\n<p>So why do we sometimes get a bonus moon? It\u2019s because the moon phases usually take 29.5 days to complete, meaning 12 cycles take 354 days. So every few years, we get a 13th moon.<\/p>\n<p>The next blue moon is not expected until 31 December 2028. <\/p>\n<p>Why is it called a blue moon?<\/p>\n<p>Despite what the name suggests, it doesn\u2019t come from the blue appearance of the moon. While it\u2019s not clear where the term originally came from, there are a few theories as to where it could have originated.<\/p>\n<p>One such theory suggests it comes from a mispronunciation of an old-timey word that means \u2018to betray\u2019, meaning the extra moon is a trick of sorts. Whereas another theory suggests that the slang term meaning \u201ca long time\u201d came first, and farmers then started referring to the rare phenomenon this way.  <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/secretldn.com\/full-moon-schedule-blue-moon-supermoon-lunar-eclipse2026\/\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\" class=\"shortcode-outbound-link\" data-has-ga=\"true\" data-ga-type=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/secretldn.com\/full-moon-schedule-blue-moon-supermoon-lunar-eclipse2026\/\" data-action=\"text_cta_3\" data-category=\"click_internal\">Full moon schedule for 2026:<\/a><br \/>Sunday, May 31 \u2013 Blue Moon\u200b<br \/>Monday, June 29 \u2013 Strawberry Moon, micromoon<br \/>Wednesday, July 29 \u2013 Buck Moon<br \/>Friday, August 28 \u2013 Sturgeon Moon, partial lunar eclipse<br \/>Saturday, September 26 \u2013 Harvest Moon<br \/>Monday, October 26 \u2013 Hunter\u2019s Moon<br \/>Tuesday, November 24 \u2013 Beaver Moon, supermoon<br \/>Wednesday, December 23 \u2013 Cold Moon, supermoon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ever heard of the phrase \u201conce in a blue moon\u201d? Well, fun fact, it is linked to a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-588247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-science","tag-space","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}