Thursday, February 1, 2018

Lunar Eclipse - Super Blue Blood Moon

A blue moon (a second full moon in a calendar month), The term once in a Blue Moon means that something is rare. Blue Moons happen once every two or three years. Double Blue Moons happen only about 3 to 5 times in a century. The next year that has two months with two Full Moons each will be 2037, while the last time, was in 1999. A Moon that actually looks blue, however, is a very rare sight. Eruptions like the ones on Mt. Krakatoa, in Indonesia (1883), El Chichon, Mexico (1983), on Mt. St. Helens (1980) and Mount Pinatubo (1991) are all known to have made the moon look blue. (Source: timeanddate.com) 

The Moon will turn a shade of red  when Earth moves between the Sun and the Moon, casting its shadow on the Moon's surface. The Moon does not have any light of its own—it shines because its surface reflects sunlight. During a total lunar eclipse, the Earth moves between the Sun and the Moon and cuts off the Moon's light supply. When this happens, the surface of the Moon takes on a reddish glow instead of going completely dark.The red color of a totally eclipsed Moon has prompted many people in recent years to refer to total lunar eclipses as Blood Moons. (Source: timeanddate.com) 

Supermoons  happen when a full moon approximately coincides with the moon's perigee, or a point in its orbit at which it is closest to Earth. This makes the moon appear up to 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than usual. The January 31st 2018 Super Blue Blood Moon combines three lunar elements - a supermoon, a blue moon and a blood moon. 

The photos all taken from Chennai beach but I missed to carry my tripod so could not get sharp images of blood moon as the light was very low during the eclipse period.  Around 6.45 pm able to see the trace of moon, around 7.10 pm able to see the full moon orange red in colour and it lasted till 7.40 pm. Slowly moon started to become white and around 9.40 pm full white moon was visible.