Rare Black Moon Occurs Friday Night — Is This Cause for Alarm?

This Friday, September 30, we will get to experience the "Black Moon," something that is described as a rare occurrence often bringing bad connotations. In fact, some conspiracy theorists have associated it with the "end of days" and the apocalypse.

Fortunately, a black moon is neither of these things. The phenomena isn't sinister at all, according to sciencealert.com, the event occurs when a second new moon rises in one month.

In simple terms, each month there is usually a full moon and a new moon (new moon being the opposite of a full moon). And this month there will be two new moons. However, the definition of what a black moon is and how often it occurs is still being debated.

Here's a good explanation from space.com:

The lunar calendar almost lines up with Earth's calendar year, so there is typically one full moon and one new moon each month. A second full moon in a single calendar month is sometimes called a "Blue Moon." A Black Moon is supposedly the flip side of a Blue Moon: the second new moon in a single calendar month.

How rare is a black moon?

Jim Roselli, president of the New Jersey Astronomy Association explains:

"Once every 32 months, you have in a single month, two new moons, then it's called a black moon. The last black moon was in March of 2014."

But will you actually be able to see the black moon?

Not really. Unlike a full moon, a new moon occurs when the side of the moon that's lit up by the Sun is facing away from Earth, making it almost invisible to the naked eye.

However, there is a something positive about not being able to see the black moon, Roselli told Patch:

"It’s the best night for astrophotographers, because there’s no illumination from the moon, and therefore it’s our opportunity to take good pictures."

Roselli suggested finding a spot away from the city or using Dark Site Finder, a website that shows how much light pollution is in any particular area.

But now you'll know that the moon is really still there even though you can't see it — and that the apocalypse isn't really coming.

A refresher on lunar phases from the experts at NASA:

Photo by 阿爾特斯 via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0