Blood Moon dazzles in the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century

A blood-red moon dazzled starry astronomers in much of the world on Friday when it moved into the shadow of the Earth for the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century.

From the Cape of Good Hope in the Middle East, and from the Kremlin to Sydney Harbor, thousands of people turned their eyes to the stars to watch the moon go dark before shining orange, brown and purple in the shade.

The total eclipse lasted 1 hour, 42 minutes and 57 seconds, although a partial eclipse preceded and followed, meaning that the moon will spend a total of nearly 4 hours in the morning. Umbrella shadow of the earth, according to Nasa.

The most complete eclipse was visible from Europe, Russia, Africa, Middle East and much of Asia and Australia although clouds have blocked the moon in some places.

Reuters mapped the entire world eclipse, capturing a glistening orange and red moon over Cairo, the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion, near Athens, the Bavarian village of Raisting in Germany , Rio beach in Brazil and Johannesburg

In Nairobi, Kenyans watched the moon darken

"It's like that that's life: magical moments like this," said Teddy Muthusi while looking at Uhuru Park in Nairobi. "It's just beautiful, it's worth it."

On the banks of the Indian Ganges, the temples were closed before the eclipse. Fans watched through telescopes at Marina South Pier in Singapore and at the Al Sadeem Observatory in Al Wathba near Abu Dhabi.

Hundreds of people in Australia paid to watch the eclipse of the Sydney Observatory before sunrise. ] When the moon shifted into the conical shadow of the earth, it went from illumination by the sun to the darkness. Some light, however, reaches it again because it is curved by the atmosphere of the Earth.

"This is what is called a blood moon because sunlight flows through the Earth's atmosphere to the moon and the atmosphere of the Earth transforms it. "In the same way that when the sun goes down, it turns red," Andrew Fabian, professor of astronomy at Cambridge University

At the same time, Mars is getting closer to Earth since 2003, so some observers can see what looks like a red-orange star – and it's actually the red planet.

A very unusual coincidence of having a total lunar eclipse and March at the opposition in the same night, "said Robert Massey, deputy executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society, who observed the 39, eclipse of the Mediterranean Sea

looked at the heavens for omens of misfortune, victory and joy The Bible contains references to the moon that turns into blood and some ultra-Orthodox Jews consider the lunar eclipses disturbing and a cause for moral contemplation

According to some Hindu beliefs, celestial bodies such as the sun and moon emit negative energy during an eclipse, and some temples in India have been closed to minimize disruption.

Astronomers , however, said that there was no need to worry.

"There is no reason to believe that blood moons predict death. "This does not announce the apocalypse: seeing a lunar eclipse and Mars in the sky is something that people should love rather than worry about."

The next lunar eclipse of such length is planned for 2123.

-Reuters [19659031] [ad_2]
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