Thanks to Ellen for asking about tonight's so-called "blood moon." This eclipse should be visible from anywhere in North America and South America, as well as Australia. It will be seen as a partial eclipse in arts of Asia, Africa and Europe.
Just find a comfy place (and a warm blanket, maybe some hot cocoa, and certainly some friends) to enjoy watching it!
You can read more about it in this article.
Even better, though, is the NASA explanation for the moon's "blood red" color in the eclipse: "What you're seeing is every sunrise and sunset on Earth--all at once. This ring of light shines into Earth's shadow, breaking the utter darkness you might expect to find there."
Madame L knows that Ellen and all her other Dear Readers are interested in the science and not in the creepy-crazy pseudo-religious nuts who are saying this eclipse has anything to do with anything outside of the normal life of our solar system. Here's a NASA scientist explaining this lunar eclipse:
2 comments:
Refraction. As in, when you see the Sun set, it has already been "set" for about 5 minutes, because of refraction.
The only light that gets refracted onto the Moon is the light that goes through the longest distance in air as it works itself past the Earth... so it's all red light that we see in a sunrise or sunset.
I live in the Pacific Northwest, however, so the chance of actually seeing this event are greater than zero, but not by much. That is, until Climate Change gets a bit farther along on its current inexorable track (one more Chinese coal-fired powerplant came online this week). Then for youse guyz in LA, the Coast WILL be Toast, and our PacNW "Paradise" will be 8-9 months long instead of 6. It's already happening, actually.
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Thanks, Madame Elle. I woke up in the night and looked out my front window, and saw that red moon. I guess I missed most of the actual eclipse. Still, I laid on the couch and watched it change shades of red across the moon. It was very beautiful. Thanks for the information!
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