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Weather permitting, get ready for a beautiful celestial view on Friday, July 27 and Saturday, July 28, when a total lunar eclipse will be visible from almost every part of the world. The only missing people this time are Greenland, Canada and the United States.
From the UK, this spectacular view will last all night. As the moon rises at 8:50 pm, the eclipse will already be in its full phase and the moon will be of a deep red color as it rises into the sky.
If you have good pictures of the moon during the Friday event, we would like to see them. Make sure to tell us where you took your picture and any other information you find useful.
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All you need is a clear view of the night sky. Your eyes are the best instrument to soak up the eyesight. If you happen to have a pair of binoculars on hand, you can use them to cross the craters of the moon, but that's just the icing on the cake.
Even better, you do not need to wear special filters or goggles to see a lunar eclipse. Unlike a total solar eclipse, where it is dangerous to watch the sun, the moon never gets bright enough to cause danger to your eyes.
So, stop a garden chair, invite some friends and watch her serene eclipse unfold, here are some fun facts to ponder.
Why does the moon turn red?
A total lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, the Earth, and the moon align perfectly. The most spectacular part of a total lunar eclipse is that when the moon is completely in the shadow of the Earth, it becomes red. This has earned the phenomenon the nickname of a blood moon.
The red color occurs because sunlight is diverted through the earth's atmosphere. The process is called refraction and it bends the red light of the sun like a lens in the space behind the Earth – and so on the surface of the moon eclipsed.
The precise color of the moon depends on atmospheric conditions in the Earth's atmosphere. The clearer the atmosphere, the more the red color looks bright and bright
If the Earth had no atmosphere, then the totally eclipsed moon would be black. As it is, we stay alive because we have air to breathe and as a bonus we have a beautiful celestial phenomenon to observe. So a win-win
How many lunar eclipses will there be this century?
According to NASA, there will be 230 lunar eclipses in the 21st century. Of these, only 85 will be total lunar eclipses. The Friday eclipse is the longest of the century, with a duration of 1 hour 43 minutes and 35 seconds. It will be the 17th lunar eclipse of the century. The next will take place on January 21, 2019.
How did a total lunar eclipse save Christopher Columbus?
On Columbus's fourth voyage, his ships were confronted with a storm. After failing his two remaining ships (he started with four) in June 1503, he and his crew threw themselves to the mercy of local residents. The accounts vary but clearly in February of the following year, relations were deteriorating between the castaways of Columbus and the natives.
To continue to receive the food and hospitality of the inhabitants, Columbus needed to persuade, and he turned to his astronomer. almanac for help. Noticing a total lunar eclipse to come, he would have gathered the inhabitants in the evening of February 29, 1504 and told them that his god was angry at their decision and that he had decided to cast his anger on the moon [19659018]. When the moon of blood appeared, the locals panicked and gave Columbus all the provisions he could want. Hmmm.
What happens to the moon during a total lunar eclipse?
Unlike the rather majestic twilight that normally takes place on the moon, where a day lasts about a fortnight and is followed at night, the light and the heat of the sun disappear in a few minutes during the day. A total lunar eclipse
Rather than plunging the unhardened glass from the oven into a bowl of cold water, this sudden change in temperature could crack the lunar rocks. to be freed. These would help provide the very thin lunar atmosphere, which is so rarefied that it is called an exosphere.
There is also another mystery to explain. When astronomers take thermal images of the moon totally eclipsed, they see hot spots that they can not fully explain. They are often concentrated on craters.
Despite having studied them for more than 60 years, no one has found an adequate explanation of the origin of the heat. Selene, it seems, likes to keep secrets for herself.
Stuart Clark is the author of The Search for the Twins of the Earth (Quercus).
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