‘Blood moon’ dazzles stargazers
21st century’s longest lunar eclipse coincides with Mars phenomenon
Stargazers across much of the world got a glimpse of a ‘blood moon’ late last night as the earth’s natural satellite moved into the shadow of our planet for the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century.
From the Cape of Good Hope to the Middle East, and from the Kremlin to Sydney Harbour, thousands of people turned their eyes to the stars, hoping to see the moon which began to appear orange, brown or crimson as it moved into the earth’s shadow. The fullest eclipse was visible from Europe, Russia, Africa, the Middle East, much of Asia and Australia.
In the UAE, the clouds played spoilsport as the moon rose above the Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi while in Kenya it rose over Marabou storks nesting in Nairobi’s trees.
“The reason that the moon turns red is because atmospheric scattering causes red light to pass through the atmosphere and the composition of the atmosphere can change if volcanic eruptions or forest fires occur,” said Tom Kerss, an astronomer with the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
“And the density of dust increasing in the atmosphere can cause the moon to appear deep red, and indeed it has the same effect on our sunsets and sunrises.”
In a special treat, Mars is also at its closest approach to Earth this week since 2003, making it appear bigger and brighter.
UAE residents yesterday joined astronomers and people across the globe in enjoying the 21st century’s longest total lunar eclipse.
The longest ‘blood moon’ eclipse this century coincided with Mars’ closest approach in 15 years. The moon turned blood red or reddish brown as the Earth’s shadow covered it.
Cloudy skies played a bit of a spoilsport as the moon played hide-and-seek with skygazers. The rare celestial phenomenon started at around 9.14pm and ended at 3.28am in the UAE. The maximum eclipse lasted around 103 minutes.
The celestial treat also coincided with the Mars Opposition, when the Red Planet and the sun are directly on opposite sides of the Earth. Mars hovered near the moon in the night sky, easily visible with the naked eye. It appeared unusually large and bright, a mere 57.7 million km from Earth on its elliptical orbit around the sun.
Five astronomy centres in the UAE organised special observation programmes.
Unlike with a solar eclipse, viewers needed no protective eye gear to observe the event.
A total lunar eclipse happens when Earth takes position in a straight line between the moon and sun, blotting out sunlight.
When the three celestial bodies are perfectly lined up, the Earth’s atmosphere scatters blue light from the sun while refracting or bending red light onto the moon, usually giving it a rosy blush. This is what gives the phenomenon the name ‘blood moon’.
The long duration of this eclipse is partly due to the fact that the moon will make a near-central passage through Earth’s umbra — the darkest, most central part of the shadow.