Bright Night

An interesting night for stargazers as a lunar eclipse embraces the night sky from September 7th to 8th. The eclipse turned the moon to a blood red as Earth drifted between the sun and the moon. The moon dipped to the deepest part of our beautiful planet’s shadow and soon the moon adopted a gorgeous hue of bloody red as sunlight from earth’s atmosphere bent to the lunar surface. 

Lunar eclipses occur 2-5 times a year and usually last from an hour to over 80 minutes. This Lunar eclipse lasted from 17:30 GMT to 18: 52 GMT. For Pacific Time that’s 10:30 AM to 11:52 AM but in GMT time it's 5:30 to 6:52. The eclipse wasn’t seen in North America; but instead it was seen in Asia, India, Eastern Africa, Australia, and Europe. Blue light from the sun is shorter than the red wavelengths, and the earth’s atmosphere scatters the shorter wavelengths as the longer wavelengths are bent towards the moon. 

This is why the sky is blue during the day; the sun emits a white light that’s a combination of all the colors then once it meets the earth's atmosphere it starts to interact with the natural gases and rayleigh scattering immediately takes place, coloring the sky a beautiful blue. 

People have been fascinated and enthralled by the yearly occurrence of the astonishing blood moon, causing questions and curious minds to start researching about it. The shade of red that takes effect on the moon is usually dependent on the amount of dust particles, clouds, and other particles that take place in the atmosphere. A lunar eclipse is safe to see with the naked eye, unlike a regular eclipse. Partial phases last longer than total phases. 

Lunar eclipses are awe-inspiring and definitely star striking. It’s sad they aren’t predictable with their time that they occur; I would absolutely stay up for one. Stargazers take time to plan out their spots perfectly to where the phenomenon is happening. Others travel for hours just for pictures and videos of these occurrences. Setting up takes a long time, depending on your camera set up, and they work so hard just for short moments of these breathtaking natural events. 

I would like to thank the stargazers and astrophotographers who spend time planning, researching, and mapping out their entire night just for a short instance.

Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.