HESSEQUA NEWS - According to National Geographic, the cosmic trifecta of a supermoon, a blue moon and a total lunar eclipse has not been seen anywhere on earth since December 1982.
The nearly full moon reached its closest point to earth on 30 January, when the moon was just under 358994.757 km from our planet. This means the full moon appeared about seven percent bigger and 14 percent brighter than usual on 31 January will appear
But the most visually impressive part of this lunar show was a total eclipse. Lunar eclipses happen when the earth is between the moon and the sun so that the moon passes through earth’s shadow. Unfortunately, South Africans were not able to see the lunar eclipse. But the moon was closer and brighter, which still made it spectacular.
What makes the moon turn red?
Although the moon is in shadow during a total eclipse, sunlight shining through earth's atmosphere gets bent, or refracted, toward the red part of the spectrum and is cast onto the moon's surface. As a result, the lunar disk goes from a dark grey colour during the partial phase of the eclipse to a reddish-orange colour during totality.
What happens if I cannot see totality?
You can however tune in to the show online via webcasts such as the Virtual Telescope Project and Slooh should we not be able to see such an eclipse or any other for that matter.
ARTICLE & PHOTOS: SAN-MARIé CRONJé, SUID-KAAP FORUM JOURNALIST
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