We join those noting the rare "blue moon" you'll see tonight is occurring on the same day that a private service commemorating the life of Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, is being held in his native Ohio. Armstrong died last Saturday at age 82.
Associated Press reporter Seth Borenstein called the "blue moon" a fitting wink to Armstrong by the cosmic calendar. He explained that a blue moon occurs when there's a second full moon in one calendar month. He wrote that the full moon cycle is 29.5 days so a blue moon is uncommon and has come to mean something rare. There will not be another one until July 2015.
In keeping with the light tone of the report, Borenstein also cites the opinion of Harvard University astronomer Avi Loeb that the blue moon is far more important to lovers, literature and folklore than it is to science.
You should shake your head over the fact that AP editors thought it is important - and, sadly, probably it is - to include in Borenstein's story the line:''The moon actually won't be colored blue.''
Those who have followed the space program from the beginning and who remember where they were when Armstrong took that first step on the moon, might take seriously a comment from Armstrong's family.
They suggest you might pay tribute to Neil Armstrong by looking at the blue moon this evening and giving the astronaut a wink.