Watch the Blue Moon of May 2019 Rise Today in a Live Webcast!

You can watch this month's full Flower Moon, also a "Blue Moon," rise over Rome in a live broadcast from the Virtual Telescope Project. Tune in today (May 18) to see the show, starting at 1:45 p.m. EDT (1745 GMT).

"For sure, it [the moon] will put [on] its usual great show and we will show the moon rising above the legendary skyline of Rome," Gianluca Masi, an astrophysicist and the director of the Virtual Telescope Project, said in a statement

You can watch the live webcast on Space.com here, courtesy of the Virtual Telescope Project.

The term Blue Moon has nothing to do with the color of the moon but instead is a moniker for an additional moon in a particular time period. Usually, the Blue Moon is defined as the second full moon in a month, but this time, the moniker comes from an older definition, explained Space.com skywatching columnist Joe Rao

Related: 2019 Full Moon Calendar

The vernal equinox (which represents the start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere) fell on March 20 this year. Less than 4 hours later, the first full moon of spring arrived. Rao cited an older definition of the Blue Moon from the now-defunct Maine Almanac, which said that if there are four full moons in a season instead of the usual three, the third is called a Blue Moon.

There are four full moons in spring 2019: March 20, April 19, May 18 and June 17. That makes this month's full moon the Blue Moon. Of course, the moon itself will retain the bright white appearance it usually sports during its full phase. (By contrast, during a lunar eclipse, the moon passes into the Earth's shadow and turns red or a ruddy brown.)

The moon is coming under ever-increasing interest this year. Later this summer, spaceflight fans will mark the 50th anniversary of the first human moon landing, in 1969. And if President Donald Trump's administration has its way, the feat may be repeated within the next five years; the administration announced a few weeks ago that it plans to land astronauts on the moon again by 2024.

Editor's note: If you snap an amazing photo of the Blue Moon of May 2019 and would like to share them for a story or photo gallery, send images and comments to spacephotos@space.com

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Elizabeth Howell
Staff Writer, Spaceflight

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace