In the night
between the 27th and the 28th, the moon was eclipsed by the Earth.
An
eclipse happens when a celestial body obscures another one, making it
completely or partially shaded; in this case, the Earth and the moon
were the two bodies concerned.
The
rare and strange thing about this eclipse was that the moon was not
eclipsed the way it usually is. During this eclipse, the moon was at
the nearest place that it could have been to the Earth, so the
details we could see were incredible.
However,
this time it also appeared red to the terrestrials, which is why it
was called “blood moon” - this term having been used for as long
as eclipses have been recorded.
Why
does the moon turn red?
The
red colour of the moon is usually only seen during an eclipse. The
reason behind this is exactly the same as to why the sun appears red
during sunrise and sunset.
As
we all know, the sun is always shining, so there is always a part of
the Earth receiving sunlight. The illumination of the moon, on the
other hand, depends on the position of our planet. When the Earth
comes between the sun and the moon, sunrays fall on the surface of
Earth, but they cannot reach the moon. The three bodies are in such a
position that sunlight can barely reach the moon and to do so it has
to pass through the atmosphere of the earth. This only happens during
an eclipse.
When
an eclipse occurs, the Earth's atmosphere scatters the light coming
from the sun and the shorter wavelengths of colour -blue, purple,
green, yellow- are blocked while the longest wavelength -red-, passes
through the atmosphere, causing the red coloured shadow to appear on
the moon. At sunrise and sunset light has to travel more atmospheric
distance, therefore we see the sun as red.
This
same phenomenon will be observable again in Belgium in 2030.
by Axel Fjellman
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