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When is May 2026’s Blue Moon? Here’s why it’s a rare occurrence — and a micromoon

Nbcwashington · 🇺🇸 public United States · · 449 words · By Scott Stump; TODAY
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What to know about When is May 2026’s Blue Moon? Here’s why it’s a rare occurrence — and a micromoon

An event that occurs once in a blue moon is coming up on the final day of May.

Claims checked 11
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center88%
Right12%

8 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

An event that occurs once in a blue moon is coming up on the final day of May.

Why it matters

The second full moon of the month will be on May 31 and is known as the blue moon.

Common ground

It follows a dazzling flower moon that lit up the sky on May 1.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/may-2026-blue-moon-why…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 11 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 7
verified Verified By Reference 2
schedule Pending 1
help Insufficient Evidence 1
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Claim 1: “It follows a dazzling flower moon that lit up the sky on May 1.”
CORROBORATED
BBC Sky at Night Magazine explicitly states there was a full moon on 1st May 2026, and another source mentions the 'Flower Moon' in the context of May 2026.
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web search NEUTRAL — 2 days ago · full, complete, plenary, replete mean containing all that is wanted or needed or possible. full implies the presence or inclusion of everything that is wanted or required by something or …
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/full
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Define full. full synonyms, full pronunciation, full translation, English dictionary definition of full. adj. full·er , full·est 1. Containing all that is normal or possible: a full pail.
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/full
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web search NEUTRAL — FULL definition: 1. (of a container or a space) holding or containing as much as possible or a lot: 2. containing a…. Learn more.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/full
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Claim 2: “The moon will be 252,360 miles from Earth during the blue moon on May 31, compared to its average distance of 238,855 miles”
CORROBORATED
Web search results specifically cite the distance of 252,360 miles for the May 31 event and an average distance of approximately 238,855 miles.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Flat Earth is an archaic and scientifically disproven conception of the Earth's shape as a plane or disk. Many ancient societies subscribed to a flat-Earth cosmography. The model has undergone a recen…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — May 31 is the 151st day of the year (152nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 214 days remain until the end of the year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_31
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. This is made possible by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid su…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 3: “The blue moon... only comes along every two or three years.”
CORROBORATED
Two separate cross-references from Nypost confirm that a blue moon occurs approximately every two to three years.
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cross reference SUPPORTS — A blue moon occurs every two to three years when a second full moon squeezes into a single month.
https://nypost.com/2026/05/28/lifestyle/rare-blue-micromoon-…
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cross reference SUPPORTS — A blue moon refers to the second full moon in a calendar month, which occurs only about once every two to three years.
https://nypost.com/2026/05/30/science/how-to-get-the-best-vi…
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Claim 4: “It will occur when the moon is farthest from the Earth, so that it will appear about 6% to 7% smaller than the average full moon and 12% to 14% smaller than a super moon”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources (MSN, KXAN) confirm the specific percentages: 6-7% smaller than average and 12-14% smaller than a supermoon.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A supermoon is a full moon or a new moon that nearly coincides with perigee—the closest that the Moon comes to the Earth in its orbit—resulting in a slightly larger-than-usual apparent size of the lun…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermoon
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web search NEUTRAL — May 31, 2026 · ... appear about 6–7% smaller than average and 12–14% smaller than a supermoon, and slightly dimmer. The timing at the end of May was due to the ...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/insight/rare-blue-micromoon-m…
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web search NEUTRAL — Feb 23, 2024 · A micromoon appears 12-14% smaller than a supermoon and 6-7% smaller than a typical full moon. In Central Texas, viewing conditions will be ...
https://www.kxan.com/weather/weather-blog/micromoon-visible-…
+ 1 more evidence source
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Claim 5: “The second full moon of the month will be on May 31 and is known as the blue moon.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources, including Nypost and a specific web search result for May 2026, confirm that May 31 will have a second full moon known as a blue moon.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore,…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — May is the fifth month of the year. May, MAY or may can also refer to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_(disambiguation)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresa_May
+ 4 more evidence sources
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Claim 6: “the term apparently comes from a 16th century idiom for something rare.”
CORROBORATED
Two different web sources link the phrase to a 16th-century expression meaning something rare or impossible.
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web search NEUTRAL — The term blue moon originates from a 16th century expression “the moon is blue,” referring to something that was impossible.
https://www.daily-sun.com/feature/872361/a-celestial-double-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Blue moon as a calendrical term originated with the 1937 Maine Farmers' Almanac, a provincial U.S. magazine that is not to be confused with the Farmers' Almanac, Old Farmer's Almanac, or other America…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_moon
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web search NEUTRAL — The origins of the phrase "once in a blue moon" are rooted in an anti-Roman clergy pamphlet and a volcanic explosion in Indonesia.We do know that the phrase stems from the 16th-century expression “the…
https://www.mentalfloss.com/language/once-in-a-blue-moon-ori…
schedule
Claim 7: “The next one [year with two blue moons] will be in January and March of 2037, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
verified
Claim 8: “The blue moon will also be what is known as a “micromoon,” which is the opposite of a super moon.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
MSN and other web results explicitly identify the May 31, 2026, blue moon as a 'micromoon'.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — 31 may refer to: 31 (number), the natural number following 30 and preceding 32
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/31
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The insurrection of 31 May – 2 June 1793 (French: Journées du 31 mai et du 2 juin 1793, lit. 'Days of 31 May and 2 June 1793') during the French Revolution started after the Paris Commune demanded tha…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurrection_of_31_May_–_2_Jun…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — May 31 is the 151st day of the year (152nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 214 days remain until the end of the year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_31
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 9: “The last blue moon was a blue supermoon in August 2024, which is a rare occurrence that happens about every 10 years.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided in the search results to confirm or deny the occurrence of a blue supermoon in August 2024 or its frequency.
verified
Claim 10: “The blue moon will reach peak fullness at 4:45 a.m. ET on May 31”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
While sources confirm the blue moon on May 31, 2026, none of the provided evidence specifies the exact peak time of 4:45 a.m. ET.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (or simply E.T.) is a 1982 American science fantasy film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott, a boy who …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.T._the_Extra-Terrestrial
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — ET, Et or et may refer to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ET
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — May 68 (French: Mai 68) was a period of widespread protests, strikes, and civil unrest in France that began in May 1968 and became one of the most significant social uprisings in modern European histo…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_68
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 11: “Blue moon is not a scientific term, but one that has become common as an informal reference for the second full moon in a single month.”
CORROBORATED
Wikipedia and multiple web sources confirm that 'blue moon' is an informal term for the second full moon in a month rather than a scientific term.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The term 'Blue Moon' is an informal nickname given to the second full Moon in a calendar month. Because there was a full Moon on 1st May 2026, then another on 31st May 2026, that makes this weekend's …
https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/why-full-moon-looks-…
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web search NEUTRAL — A blue moon refers to the presence of a second full moon in a calendar month, the third full moon in a season containing four, or a moon that appears blue due to atmospheric effects.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_moon
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The second full moon of the month will be on May 31 and is known as the blue moon.Blue moon is not a scientific term, but one that has become common as an informal reference for the second full moon i…
https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/may-2026-blue-mo…
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.