Here is a report from John Stone, our resident "Eclipse Chaser" on the recent Lunar eclipse.

The moon was partially eclipsed by the Earth's shadow on Thursday Dec 31st which was New Years Eve. it was also a 'Blue Moon' meaning it was the second full moon during December, the first was on the 2nd. The full moon first went into the Earth's shadow, the umbra, at 6.52pm UT and left at approx. 7.54 pm UT. There was some cloud around during the latter stages of the eclipse when I tried some shots without my scope but then reverted to camera and scope just before 8pm. Equipment used was a Canon 300D camera and a William Optics Megrez 72D scope.

What is a "Blue Moon" ?  This isn't an astornomical term, the modern common usage is that it is the second full moon in a calendar month.  But this definition results from a mistake made in "Sky & Telescope" magazine in 1946, but the mistake wasn't spotted until 1999 !  By then it had become the modern common definition of a "Blue Moon" and the language had evolved as languages do.  Here is a summary of definitions of what a "Blue Moon"  has been variously described as.

• In calculating the dates for Lent and Easter, the Clergy identify the Lent Moon. It is thought that historically when the moon's timing was too early, they named an earlier moon as a "betrayer moon" (belewe moon), thus the Lent moon came at its expected time.
• Folklore gave each moon a name according to its time of year. A moon which came too early had no folk name – and was called a blue moon – bringing the correct seasonal timings for future moons.
• The Farmers' Almanac defined blue moon as an extra full moon that occurred in a season; one season was normally three full moons. If a season had four full moons, then the third full moon was named a blue moon.
• Recent popular usage defined a blue moon as the second full moon in a calendar month, stemming from an interpretation error made in 1946 that was discovered in 1999. For example, this partially eclipse moon on December 31st 2009 was also a Blue Moon by this definition.

Here are some links here for further information on this event and definitions of Blue Moons.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/29dec_bluemoon.htm?list147848

and the original mistake in 1946 from the magazine themselves which is the source of the modern common usage of this term.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/moon/3304131.html