Astronomy |
September 29, 2015
Recorded in 2014 April, this total lunar eclipse sequence looks south down icy Waterton Lake from the Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada, planet Earth. The most distant horizon includes peaks in Glacier National Park, USA. An exposure every 10 minutes captured the Moon’s position and eclipse phase, as it arced, left to right, above the rugged skyline and Waterton town lights. In fact, the sequence effectively measures the roughly 80-minute duration of the total phase of the eclipse. Around 270 BC, the Greek astronomer Aristarchus also measured the duration of lunar eclipses – though probably without the benefit of digital clocks and cameras. Still, using geometry, he devised a simple and impressively accurate way to calculate the Moon’s distance, in terms of the radius of planet Earth, from the eclipse duration. This modern eclipse sequence also tracks the successive positions of Mars, above and right of the Moon, bright star Spica next to the reddened lunar disk, and Saturn to the left and below. Credit: NASA / Yuichi Takasaka / TWAN / www.blue-moon.ca

The super moon phenomenon occurs when the moon is full at its perigee, that is, the closest part of its orbit around Earth, meaning it appears larger in the sky. This past weekend, the moon also happened to be a so-called “blood moon”, as a total lunar eclipse occurred at the same time.

Since the direct sunlight is blocked when the Earth eclipses a full Moon, but the sun’s rays still light up the moon, this light traveling through the Earth’s atmosphere causes the totally eclipsed Moon to look red or brownish, hence the name “Blood Moon”.

What’s more rare than a supermoon total lunar eclipse? How about a supermoon total lunar eclipse over a lightning storm. Such an electrifying sequence was captured yesterday from Ibiza, an island in southeastern Spain. After planning the location for beauty, and the timing to capture the entire eclipse sequence, the only thing that had to cooperate for this astrophotographer to capture a memorable eclipse sequence was the weather. What looked to be a bother on the horizon, though, turned out to be a blessing. The composite picture features over 200 digitally combined images from the same location over the course of a night. The full moon is seen setting as it faded to red in Earth’s shadow and then returned to normal. The fortuitous lightning is seen reflected in the Mediterranean to the right of the 400-meter tall rocky island of Es Vedra. Although the next total eclipse of a large and bright supermoon will occur in 2033, the next total eclipse of any full moon will occur in January 2018 and be best visible from eastern Asia and Australia. Credit: NASA / Jose Antonio Hervás

A supermoon lunar eclipse is a very rare event, watch this animated feature by NASA to learn more.

 

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