Did you see the Super Blue Moon yesterday?
That’s not a thing.
What? Of course it is. There were a bunch of articles about it!
Clickbait trash. There is nothing particularly special about either super moons or blue moons, and there certainly isn’t anything special about a “Super Blue Moon.”
How are they not special?
Blue moons are entirely a construct of our calendar. The lunar cycle is 29 and a half days long, which is slightly less than most months. It is inevitable that we will occasionally get a full moon to fall on the first day of the month with 31 days, which will result in a second full moon at the end of the month.
Ok, but Super Moons are special! The moon is bigger then!
The moon makes its closest approach to Earth (known as being at perigee) every month. At some point of the year, that closest approach happens to coincide with the full moon. Its just two events which happen every month lining up. And it’s not even that much bigger. You wouldn’t notice it if someone didn’t tell you about it. As evidenced by the fact that no one cared about them until clickbait articles about them made their rounds on the Internet.
But don’t they have an impact on the tides? The moon being at perigee at the same time it’s lined up with the sun has to cause stronger tides.
Sure, but only by a few inches. And you get the same effect when the moon is at perigee when it’s new, and you don’t see people freaking out about those.
But still, these two relatively common events happening at the same time is special. Why can’t we celebrate it?
Well, ok, but did you know yesterday was also the 8277th day of the millennium, a number which is divisible by both 31 and 89?
Is that unusual?
It’s only the third time it’s happened. The last was in 2016, and the next one won’t be until 2031.
Wow! That’s awesome! We should have celebrated it!
No! It’s just a coincidence of our calendar! There is nothing special about it!
Wait, aren’t you the guy who celebrates the 14th day of March religiously?
THAT’S TOTALLY DIFFERENT. PI DAY IS A CELEBRATION OF MATHEMATICS AND ORDER IN THE UNVIERSE HONORED BY WATCHING DARREN ARONOFSKY’S PI AND EATING PIE.
What if we celebrated every alignment of the numbers 31 and 89 since the start of the millennium with an independent movie and a dessert?
…
How about Christopher Nolan’s Memento and ice cream?
Fine, I’ll set the calendar notification for March 20th, 2031.