New South Wales Mostly Has Only One Blue Moon Month in 2018

Summary: New South Wales mostly has only one blue moon month in 2018, but 2018 is a double blue moon year for the state’s outback mining city of Broken Hill.

Prior to March 2018’s blue moon, Sydney’s last blue moon happened July 31, 2015; photo by Richard Histy/Hirsty Photography: Cheryl SchefferNilar @CNilar, via Twitter July 31, 2015

New South Wales mostly has only one blue moon month in 2018, but the state’s outback mining city of Broken Hill observes 2018 as a double blue moon year.

According to the world’s time standard, Coordinated Universal Time, blue moon year 2018 features two blue moon months. January and March open and close with full moons. A month’s second full moon is known as a blue moon.

New South Wales in eastern Australia mostly adheres to Australian Eastern Time. AET comprises Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT) and Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST).

Australian Eastern Daylight Time is observed until 3 a.m. AEDT, Sunday, April 1, 2018. AEDT’s UTC offset of UTC +11 communicates that the daylight saving component is 11 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time.

At 3 a.m. AEDT, Sunday, April 1, Australian Eastern Time Zone timepieces are reset to an hour earlier, to 2 a.m. AEST. The new time reflects the switch to Australian Eastern Standard Time. Standard time’s UTC offset of UTC +10 reveals that the standard time component is 10 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time.

Australian Eastern Standard Time remains in effect until daylight saving time recommences Sunday, Oct. 7. At 2 a.m. AEST, Sunday, Oct. 7, Australian Eastern Standard Time Zone timepieces are forwarded an hour. Australian Eastern Daylight Time begins at 3 a.m. AEDT, Sunday, Oct. 7.

The second full moon in March that Australian Eastern Daylight Time accords most of New South Wales occurs as the time zone’s only 2018 blue moon. Astronomer David Harper’s Obliquity site places March’s first full moon appearance Friday, March 2, at 11:51 (00:51 [12:51 a.m.] UTC). March’s second full, or blue, moon happens Saturday, March 31, at 11:37 p.m. (12:37 [12:37 p.m.] UTC.

According to Coordinated Universal Time and time zones that are less than 11 hours ahead of UTC, March’s second full moon is 2018’s second blue moon. According to Coordinated Universal Time, January opens 2018 as the year’s first blue moon month with a frame of two full moons.

Australian Eastern Daylight Time’s 11-hour gain on the time standard, however, advances UTC’s second full moon to February. The year’s first full moon took place Tuesday, Jan. 2, at 02:24 UTC (1:24 p.m. AEDT). UTC’s second January full moon occurs Wednesday, Jan. 31, at 13:26 UTC (Thursday, Feb. 1, at 12:26 a.m. AEDT).

Only one of New South Wales’s 141 mainland counties does not observe Australian Eastern Time. Yancowinna County in New South Wales’s Far West region borders the south central Australian state of South Australia. Yancowinna County uses Australian Central Time, the same time zone as South Australia and the Northern Territory.

Australian Central Time comprises Australian Central Daylight Time (ACDT) and Australian Central Standard Time (ACST). The daylight saving component is in effect until 3 a.m. ACDT, Sunday, April 1. ACDT’s UTC offset of +10:30 hours indicates that the daylight saving component is 10 and one-half hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time.

At 3 a.m. ACDT, Sunday, April 1, Australian Central Time timepieces are set back an hour, to 2 a.m. ACST. The time change marks the onset of Australian Central Standard Time. ACST’s UTC offset of UTC +9:30 hours signifies that the time zone is nine and one-half hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time.

Australian Central Standard Time is observed until daylight saving time recommences Sunday, Oct. 7. At 2 a.m. ACST, Sunday, Oct. 7, Australian Central Time are forwarded an hour. Australian Central Daylight Time begins at 3 a.m. ACDT, Sunday, Oct. 7.

Yancowinna’s primary settlements are Broken Hill and Silverton. The village of Silverton lies northwest of Broken Hill. The Far West outback mining city of Broken Hill is closer to South Australia’s capital of Adelaide on Australia’s south central coast than to New South Wales’s capital of Sydney on the island continent’s southeast coast.

Observance of Australian Central Time allows Yancowinna County to experience 2018 differently from the rest of mainland New South Wales. Yancowinna County conforms with Coordinated Universal Time in enjoying 2018 as a double blue moon year.

Broken Hill’s first set of two full moons within the same month happened in January. The month’s first full moon appeared Tuesday, Jan. 2, at 12:54 p.m. ACDT (02:24 [2:24 a.m.] UTC. The month’s second full, or blue, moon took place Wednesday, Jan. 31, at 11:56 p.m. ACDT (13:26 [1:26 p.m.] UTC).

As with Coordinated Universal Time, Australian Central Daylight Time experienced no full moons in February. Broken Hill’s second blue moon in March mirrors Coordinated Universal Time’s second blue moon month. Broken Hill’s first March full moon occurs Friday, March 2, at 11:21 a.m. ACDT (00:51 [12:51 a.m.] UTC). Broken Hill’s blue moon happens Saturday, March 31, at 11:07 p.m. ACDT (12:37 [12:37 p.m.] UTC).

The takeaway for New South Wales mostly having only one blue moon month in 2018 is that a small pocket in the state’s Far West lies in a different time zone, allowing for experiencing two blue moon months in 2018.

New South Wales’s Broken Hill observes neighboring state South Australia’s time zone, which accounts for 2018 as a double blue moon year for the Far West outback mining city; contrastingly, New South Wales’s time zone reduces 2018 to a single blue moon year: Argent Street in downtown Broken Hill, Yancowinna County, New South Wales; Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017, 18:34: Steve Swayne, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Prior to March 2018’s blue moon, Sydney’s last blue moon happened July 31, 2015; photo by Richard Histy/Hirsty Photography: Cheryl SchefferNilar @CNilar, via Twitter July 31, 2015, @ https://twitter.com/CNilar/status/627352253934862336

New South Wales’s Broken Hill observes neighboring state South Australia’s time zone, which accounts for 2018 as a double blue moon year for the Far West outback mining city; contrastingly, New South Wales’s time zone reduces 2018 to a single blue moon year: Argent Street in downtown Broken Hill, Yancowinna County, New South Wales; Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017, 18:34: Steve Swayne, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Argent_Street,_Broken_Hill.jpg;
Serendigity, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/maleny_steve/32846828026/

For further information:

Cheryl SchefferNilar ‏@CNilar. "Awesome capture of Blue Moon on Friday night by Richard Hirst @HirstyPhotos #BlueMoon #Sydney #OperaHouse." Twitter. July 31, 2015.
Available @ https://twitter.com/CNilar/status/627352253934862336

Harper, David. “Once in a Blue Moon: The Double Blue Moon of 2018.” Obliquity > Interactive Astronomy.
Available @ https://www.obliquity.com/astro/blue2018.html

Hirsty Photography (hirstyphotos). “Once in a blue moon.” Instagram. July 31, 2015.
Available @ https://www.instagram.com/p/5y6TuwDK8y/?taken-by=hirstyphotos

James Dvorak (jaym3s2). “Last nights ‘blue moon.’” Instagram. July 31, 2015.
Available @ https://www.instagram.com/p/50ua-yiuH_/?taken-by=jaym3s2

Marriner, Derdriu. “Blue Moon Month January 2018 Opens New Year With Two Full Moons.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/12/blue-moon-month-january-2018-opens-new.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Blue Moon Saturday, March 31, Is Second 2018 Calendrical Blue Moon.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, March 21, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/03/blue-moon-saturday-march-31-is-second.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “First March Full Moon Friday, March 2, Opens Second 2018 Blue Moon Month.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/02/first-march-full-moon-friday-march-2.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Super Blue Moon Wednesday, Jan. 31, Is First of Two 2018 Blue Moons.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/super-blue-moon-wednesday-jan-31-is_31.html

McClure, Bruce. “Year’s 2nd Blue Moon on March 31.” EarthSky > Tonight. March 31, 2018.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/tonight/years-2nd-blue-moon-on-march-31

“Moon Phases March 2018.” Calendar-12.com > Moon Calendar > 2018.
Available @ https://www.calendar-12.com/moon_calendar/2018/march

Rod Gotfried Cinematographer (rodgotfried). “What happened last night was literally once in a blue moon!” Instagram. July 31, 2015.
Available @ https://www.instagram.com/p/50WK1RCkN7/?taken-by=rodgotfried