Photo by Schmoopy2007

No, the moon won’t actually be blue tonight. The term “Blue Moon” refers to when there’s a second full moon in a single month. But as tonight’s moon will be the only full moon in August, how can this be possible?

Well, as the Capital Weather Gang reports, while Blue Moons are typically designated when there’s an extra full moon in a given month, the same logic can be applied when there’s an extra full moon in a given season:

So there’s an alternative definition of Blue Moon: the third full moon in a four moon season. As tonight’s full moon is the third of four this summer, it’s a Blue Moon by this standard.

Tonight’s Blue Moon will be at 100 percent around 9:45 p.m. and, again, will not actually be blue and thus look nothing like this:

“Melancholia” still via Magnolia Pictures

Still, it’ll look pretty damn cool. So tonight, look up, D.C.!