Where’s our blood moon?
After weeks of clear skies, crowds gather to view spectacle... then clouds close in to ruin it
FoR weeks we have had nothing but glorious sunshine and clear skies.
So star-gazers were left disappointed last night after a rare blood moon was shielded by thick cloud cover.
The longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century could only be seen in the far north of Scotland and during brief breaks in the clouds over in devon and Cornwall.
while families on Primrose Hill in North london could only see a mass of grey, there was a magnificent view at the Greek Temple of Poseidon in Sounion.
Meteorologist Mario Cuellar, of Meteogroup, said the UK had been very ‘unlucky’.
Those elsewhere in the world who were fortunate enough to see the celestial spectacle witnessed the moon line up with the Earth and sun and change colour silvery yellow to red.
The colour change is caused by sunlight being filtered through the Earth’s atmosphere so red colours predominate when it hits the lunar surface.
Mars added to the spectacle as it appeared below the blood moon at close to its maximum brightness. The last time the Red Planet was bigger and brighter was in 2003.
As if that was not enough, skywatchers around the world got a glorious view of Jupiter in the south-west and had a chance of catching the International Space Station sailing overhead.
The blood moon phenomenon struck terror into our ancestors and is still seen as a portent of doom in some parts of the world today. Robin Scagell, vice-presimala
‘Telescope stored away’
dent of the Society for Popular Astronomy, said: ‘A total lunar eclipse, Mars, Jupiter and the International Space Station. what more could you want?’
He pointed out that the moon’s appearance greatly depended on atmospheric conditions around the Earth at the time of the eclipse.
But dust thrown into the atmosphere by recent volcanic eruptions in Hawaii and Guate- was likely to have helped paint the moon a deeper red.
‘In early days experiencing a total lunar eclipse would have felt like the end of the world. It’s not surprising people were terrified by it,’ he added.
Many Britons took to social media to vent their frustration at not seeing the eclipse which lasted one hour, 42 minutes and 57 seconds.
one Twitter user John Park sarcastically shared an image of gathering thunderclouds with the caption: ‘Blood Moon, South west london! wow!! #anticlimax.’
Meanwhile another user, Jeremy Snook wrote: ‘Clear night skies all week. #BloodMoon tonight and total blanket cloud cover! Telescope remains firmly stored away.’
Another said: ‘I have 2 cameras on tripods set up to capture the Blood Moon and for the first day in 9 weeks it is raining and very cloudy.’