Eclipse 2018: Is the opposition of Mars to Earth related to the Moon of Blood? | Science | New

On the night of Friday, July 27, astronomers will observe two relatively rare celestial events in the sky.

First, the full July moon will traverse the Earth's shadow during a total lunar eclipse and will reappear in the form of a red light. Second, the red planet will be the closest and the brightest of the Earth in 15 years

Mars slowly moves to the opposition, an orbital point where it lies directly in front of the sun from the point of the Earth .

During the opposition, the planet basks itself directly in the sun, which makes it incredibly easy to spot among the stars to the naked eye.

Mars and Earth orbiting the Sun at different speeds and distances, their orbits are barely aligned

But every two years, the two planets seem to form a straight line with the sun with the Earth in the middle – l 39; heavenly event doubled in opposition.

When Mars met with the opposition in 2003, the Red Planet was at the nearest Eclipse 2018: Blood Moon and Mars Opposition "/> GETTY

Eclipse 2018: The Moon of Blood coincides with Mars in Opposition

This year the planet will not come nearer but, according to Deborah Byrd, founder and astronomer of SkyEarth, Mars "will always appear as a red dot of brilliant flame in our sky "

She wrote on EarthSky.org:" Remember March 2003? It was the year when the red planet came closer to Earth than it had been for 60,000 years.

"Mars can be weak, or it can be a brilliant planet, it can surpass most stars."

"But in 2003, for a few months, Mars was extremely spectacular in our sky, surpassing all the stars and planets except the brilliant Venus.

"In 2018, Mars won"

But what about the total lunar eclipse at the end of the month? Is it in any case connected to Mars to the opposition?

Unfortunately, the timing of the two events is pure but exciting coincidence.

Lunar eclipses occur about twice a year and the last total eclipse falls on the night of January, this year scientists at the flight center Space Goddard of NASA explained: "As the shows, the full moon appears every month in our skies – a view so familiar that we often take it for granted.

"But about twice a year on the During a few hours the full moon has a decidedly different look.What causes this sudden change?

"A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon crosses the Earth's shadow like an eclipse solar when part of the Earth passes through the shadow of the moon. "

with the sun on the other side of the planet – the full moon and the new moon.

But despite this, eclipses do not happen twice a month but rather twice a year

This happens because the orbit of the moon is slightly titled in relation to the sun.

About twice a year However, the position of the moon relative to the sun and stars changes just enough to cross the shadow of the Earth [19659002Whenthishappensthemooneclipsesandrefractsthesuntheatmospherepainteditfromredororangeep

This year especially astronomers are excited because the total lunar eclipse will be the longest eclipse of the 21st century.

The Blood Moon Eclipse will arrive at one hour and 43 minutes – almost 40 minutes longer than the January eclipse.