Blue Moon will watch our New Year celebrations & deer may visit your backyard. Take a moment to look into Nature, into Future

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Exactly once in a Blue Moon.

How often does a full moon occur twice in a single month? Exactly once in a Blue Moon. In fact, the modern usage of the term "Blue Moon" refers to the second Full Moon in a single month. Tonight's Blue Moon will be the first since November 2001. A Blue Moon typically occurs every few years. The reason for the rarity of the Blue Moon is that the 29.53 days between full moons is just slightly shorter than the number of days in the average month. Don't, however, expect the moon to look blue tonight! The term "Blue Moon" has recently been traced to an error in a magazine article in 1946. It is possible for the Moon to appear tinged by a blue hue, sometimes caused by fine dirt circulating in the Earth's atmosphere, possibly from a volcanic explosion. The above picture was taken not during a full moon but through a morning sky that appeared dark blue. The bright crescent is the only part directly exposed to sunlight - the rest of the Moon glows from sunlight reflected from the Earth. In this dramatic photo, however, the planet Jupiter is also visible along with its four largest moons.

On 2010 New Year eve: take a moment & look into the night sky

There will be a blue moon on Thursday as New Year's Eve revelers welcome in 2010 - the first time since 1990 that a blue moon has coincided with New Year's Eve.

A blue moon - the second full moon in a calendar month - occurs only every 2½ years on average. This month, full moons occur on December 2 and December 31. An astronomer, David Reneke, from Australasian Science magazine, said it was rare for the event to land on New Year's Eve, and it would not happen again until 2028.

''While everyone's celebrating they should also take a moment and look up into the night sky,'' Mr Reneke said.

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Photos courtesy of Vic Winter (ICSTARS), NBC, MinnPost