Total Lunar Eclipse dazzles stargazers as Moon turns blood red
The Moon turned blood red in several parts of the world on Monday as the longest Total Lunar Eclipse in over three decades thrilled stargazers. The celestial event began Sunday night into early Monday morning, with the moon bathed in the reflected red and orange hues of Earth's sunsets and sunrises.
The Moon, which appeared blood-soaked, was visible to the naked eyes as stargazers peered into the event with telescopes. The eclipse was visible in the eastern half of North America and all of Central and South America, while the partial stages of the eclipse were seen across Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.
India was, however, unable to see the event, since it was not visible in Asia, Australia, and Alaska.
The total lunar eclipse was visible in Rome, Brussels, London, Paris, Havana, Johannesburg, Lagos, Madrid, Madrid, Santiago, Washington DC, New York, Guatemala City, Rio de Janeiro, and Chicago among others. Meanwhile, a partial eclipse was visible in Ankara, Cairo, Honolulu, Budapest, and Athens.
A total eclipse occurs when Earth passes directly between the moon and the sun and casts a shadow on our constant, cosmic companion. The moon, during the eclipse, was 362,000 kilometers away at the peak of the eclipse — around midnight on the US East Coast, and in the morning hours for India.
Scientists dubbed it supermoon, referencing the variability of perigees (closest approaches) and apogees (furthest approaches) the moon has to our planet.
In a total lunar eclipse, the entire Moon falls within the darkest part of Earth's shadow, called the umbra. In this eclipse, up to 99.1% of the Moon's disk was within Earth's umbra. It is to be noted that a total lunar eclipse happens during a full moon when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned in a perfect line.
During the eclipse on Monday, the Moon remained shrouded in darkness for nearly 85 minutes. The last time it was this long was in August 1989, when the lunar eclipse lasted for 96 minutes.
There will be another lengthy total lunar eclipse in November, with Africa and Europe lucking out again, but not the Americas. Then the next one isn't until 2025.
