People across the Word looked to the skies this week, as the longest lunar eclipse in a century took place. The eclipse caused the moon to have a red appearance, giving it the name “the Blood Moon”.
The lunar eclipse happens when the moon is behind the Earth, essentially in its shadow. This means that any light hitting the moon is not coming from the sun (as it usually would, that’s how we can see it). Instead, the light that hits the moon has come through (refracted through) the Earth’s atmosphere. As the light passes through the atmoshpere, it breaks up and the bluer ends of the spectrum are scattered, with the red colours of light continuing through and reaching the moon – causing the moon to appear red.
While many people in the UK were disappointed in their efforts to see the spectacle, due to clouds and thunder storms blocking the view, plenty of others across the World were not so unfortunate. Head to google now to see some of the amazing photographs of the bright red moon!
