Apr 18, 2014

Of Blood Moons and Lunar Tetrads

If you're like me and you live in the Eastern part of the world then you missed out seeing the "blood moon" eclipse last April 15, 2014. The Americans and a handful of smaller countries were able to witness the spectacular event. Unless they were asleep at that time.

What's a blood moon, you ask? Well quick trivia explains that a "blood moon" occurs during a total lunar eclipse when the moons completely in line with the Earth's shadow and particles in the atmosphere scatter sunlight all over the place. Did you get it? No? Well, a more accurate and scientific explanation about the total lunar eclipse can be read on the Earthsky.org website http://earthsky.org/space/why-does-the-moon-look-red-during-a-total-lunar-eclipse

So two days have already passed since the night of the eclipse. Imagine my family's surprise when we saw the dark orange moon rising over the mountains while we were having dinner. The moon wasn't as round anymore and neither was it as red. But a dark orange moon glaring at you through the darkness of the starless night has roughly the same effect. With the only camera I had, I captured several photos of the moon and hoped it would turn out okay.

http://flic.kr/p/ndbyHk

Yep, a moon that strange..you can't miss it.

But the friends that I told to look at the moon either had cloudy skies on their side of the city or were occupied with other reasons so they missed it. Although a remnant of the total eclipse, the colored moon was still a beautiful and terrifying phenomenon to see. Sometimes though, I believe that unusual events have significant meanings as well, no matter what "coincidences" other people say. Earthsky.org has an interesting trivia about the 2014-2015 lunar tetrad here http://earthsky.org/space/what-is-a-blood-moon-lunar-eclipses-2014-2015.

Another eclipse is predicted to come about in October. In six months time, maybe I'll be able to see the red moon better.

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