The Only Month That Can Pass With No Full Moon Is?
Every once in a blue moon, if you’ll pardon the pun, the Moon skips its monthly appearance. It still completes a full lunar cycle, mind you, but thanks to a bit of mathematical sleight of hand the moon doesn’t make an appearance in the month of February.
February is the shortest month sporting only 28 days in a common year (29 days in a leap year) and the lunar cycle is roughly 29.5 days long. As such, it’s possible for the lunar calendar and our calendar to align in just such a way that the full moon makes no appearance in the month.
The last such occurrence in the Americas was in February of 1999 and, for those no-full-moon thrill seekers in the crowd that want to start planning now, the next occurrence in the Americas will be in February of 2018.
Image courtesy of Orion 8.