--- title: "The Blue Moon Is Fake. You Are Being Deceived" description: "The second full moon of this month, or \"blue moon,\" is upon is. But what's the big deal about it anyway?" date: "2026-05-29" modified: "2026-05-29" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/space/blue-moon-fake" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Moon" - "Space" --- # The Blue Moon Is Fake. You Are Being Deceived ![Photograph of the moon rising over trees on a faraway mountainside.]() *Shutterstock / Futurism* At the end of this month, the sky will be graced by a rare Blue Moon. But wait: it's actually a slightly smaller than usual full Moon that's also a Blue Moon — so instead, newspapers and outlets, drawing on apocryphal traditions found in farmer's almanacs so they can stave off a slow news day, are calling it "Blue Micromoon," which is supposedly even rarer. What's going on with all these Moons? It's *lunacy!* To be clear, there will, in fact, be what is colloquially called a Blue Moon this Saturday night and Sunday morning. A Blue Moon is anytime a second full Moon appears in the same month, something that only occurs every two or three years. Or it's when a season has four full Moons, instead of three, in case you were harboring any doubt that the whole thing is a bunch of made up nonsense. The significance of all this is mostly invented — and for that matter, a Blue Moon isn't even blue; if you catch one when it rises, it usually looks orange. There's no intriguing astrophysical phenomena at play here, like with a solar eclipse, or even a lunar one (also called a Blood Moon, if you prefer.) It's just a calendrical coincidence, independent of what the Moon is actually doing. You may as well start celebrating when a full Moon falls on a Friday, and call it the TGI Moon. Witnessing a full Moon is cool, but we need to stop with the names. Last month it was a "Flower Moon," which is just another name for a full Moon that happens to be in May. Correction: it was a full "Flower Moon" that was also a "micromoon." A Micro Flower Moon? A Flower Micromoon? And what is a micromoon anyay? It's the slang that describes when the Moon's oblong orbit takes it slightly farther from our planet than usual, making it appear marginally smaller in the sky. Similarly, a "supermoon" is when it's closer and appears bigger. Here's the catch: none of these are official names, with no hard criteria on the distances the Moon needs to be at, giving people a lot of leeway on what they get to call a "supermoon" and a "micromoon." Both of those, by the way, are fairly mundane and routine. They sure do punch up a headline, though. Remember [the buzz around a "Super Worm Moon"](), also known as a "Super Worm Equinox Moon," a few years ago? Well, don't feel left out if you missed it, folks. There's a "[Strawberry Micromoon]()" coming up next month. **More on the Moon:** [*NASA Releases Sweeping Plans for Moon Base*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()