Blood Moon

A lunar eclipse and a super moon

The night of September 27-28 will bring a “blood moon” or “super moon,” a cosmic event where the moon takes on a copper colour during an eclipse. The celestial occurrence will mark the conclusion of the ongoing “tetrad” of blood moons, which began on April 15 last year, followed by another red-coloured lunar eclipse on Oct 8 last year, and a third on April 4 this year.

With the exciting astronomical event on the night of Sept 27-28, stargazers will witness a number of strange goings in the sky – both a lunar eclipse and a super moon, which will mean that the moon is at the darkest and lightest it has been all year, in the same night.

According to space.com, a lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, moon, and Earth align so that Earth’s shadow falls across the moon’s surface. During total eclipses, the moon doesn’t go completely dark; it often turns a reddish hue because it’s hit by sunlight bent by Earth’s atmosphere, thus earning the name “blood moon.”

The stunning alignment of blood moons has only occurred a handful of times in the last 2,000 years. Thus, while sky-watchers say the series follows natural cycles.
On Sept 9, a partial solar eclipse blocked out the sun, the second of the year, leaving stunning views over southern Africa and Antarctica.

But it is likely to be eclipsed itself by a rare astronomical event at the end of the month – a so-called supermoon where it will appear far bigger than usual, and a lunar eclipse that will mean that it is blocked out.

The solar eclipse was only visible in the sky to those in the southern part of Africa – including people in South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Madagascar – and in Antarctica. But livestreams and photos allowed anyone to tune into the eclipse as it happened, and stunning pictures were shared after the event.

The next solar eclipse will happen on March 9, 2016, and will be visible in Asia, Australia and the Pacific and total in Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi, Pacific. That eclipse will be almost exactly a year after the last one – a total eclipse that was visible across Europe.

And in 2017, there will be a solar eclipse over America that will bring the biggest single movement of people for tourism in human history.

 

Blood Moon

A lunar eclipse and a super moon

The night of September 27-28 will bring a blood moon or super moon, a cosmic event where the moon takes on a copper colour during an eclipse. The celestial occurrence will mark the conclusion of the ongoing tetrad of blood moons, which began on April 15 last year, followed by another red-coloured lunar eclipse on Oct 8 last year, and a third on April 4 this year. With the exciting astronomical event on the night of Sept 27-28, stargazers will witness a number of strange goings in the sky both a lunar eclipse and a super moon, which will mean that the moon is at the darkest and lightest it has been all year, in the same night. According to space.com, a lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, moon, and Earth align so that Earths shadow falls across the moons surface. During total eclipses, the moon doesnt go completely dark; it often turns a reddish hue because its hit by sunlight bent by Earths atmosphere, thus earning the name blood moon. The stunning alignment of blood moons has only occurred a handful of times in the last 2,000 years. Thus, while sky-watchers say the series follows natural cycles. On Sept 9, a partial solar eclipse blocked out the sun, the second of the year, leaving stunning views over southern Africa and Antarctica. But it is likely to be eclipsed itself by a rare astronomical event at the end of the month a so-called supermoon where it will appear far bigger than usual, and a lunar eclipse that will mean that it is blocked out. The solar eclipse was only visible in the sky to those in the southern part of Africa including people in South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Madagascar and in Antarctica. But livestreams and photos allowed anyone to tune into the eclipse as it happened, and stunning pictures were shared after the event. The next solar eclipse will happen on March 9, 2016, and will be visible in Asia, Australia and the Pacific and total in Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi, Pacific. That eclipse will be almost exactly a year after the last one a total eclipse that was visible across Europe. And in 2017, there will be a solar eclipse over America that will bring the biggest single movement of people for tourism in human history.