Astrophotos: The February 2015 'Black' Moon

By Nancy Atkinson - February 20, 2015 at 10:19 AM UTC | Observing
supermoonblack.jpg

As our David Dickinson noted in his

recent article

, a new term is "creeping into the popular astronomical vernacular: that of a 'Black Moon'." This is the New Moon version of a Blue Moon, and is either:

  1. A month missing a Full or New Moon… this can only occur in February, as the lunar synodic period from like phase to phase is 29.5 days long. This last occurred in 2014 and will next occur in 2018.
  2. The second New Moon in a month with two. This can happen in any calendar month except February.
  3. And now for the most convoluted definition: the third New Moon in an astronomical season with four.

The February 18

th

New Moon met the requirements expressed in rule 3. The fourth New Moon of the season falls on March 20

th

, just 13 hours before the

northward equinox

on the same date.

But no matter what the occasion, there are always astrophotographers out to grab pictures, and here are some shared with Universe Today via email and on our

Flickr page

.

[caption id="attachment_119086" align="aligncenter" width="580"]

The sliver of the February 2015 new 'black' Moon. Credit and copyright: Héctor Barrios.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_119090" align="aligncenter" width="580"]

The less than 24-hour old Moon on February 19, 2015, as seen from Toronto, Canada. Credit and copyright: Michael Watson. [/caption]

[caption id="attachment_119092" align="aligncenter" width="388"]

The Moon, Mars and Venus. Credit and copyright: Neil Ghosh. [/caption]

And remember, tonight you can see a

close conjunction

of the Moon, Venus and Mars.

Here's how you can photograph the event

, and make sure to

share your photos with Universe Today!

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com