The night sky was graced by quite a scene Sunday night: A total supermoon lunar eclipse. Sounds crazy, right? You're probably wondering what all those words mean, but don't fret, for I am here to clear up any confusion.
Basically, there were two big things going on that accumulated into a pretty rare occurrence called a blood moon.
First off, the moon was full and in its closest point in orbit around earth; a phenomenon that is referred to as a supermoon. On average, we see about 4 supermoons every year, and they can happen when the moon is either new or full. Supermoons tend to be 20 percent brighter and 15 percent bigger than regular full moons. The supermoon Sunday night was about 221,754 miles from earth, the closest in 2015 and the closest in the last 18 years.
On top of that, there was also a total lunar eclipse. This is what happens when the sun, earth and moon all align in just the right way so that the earth casts a shadow on the moon that almost completely blacks it out. This is an image from the total lunar eclipse that occurred in December of 2010.
If earth is blocking the moon from the sun, why do we then see it as red?
A blood moon is the result of the sunlight that still passes through earth's atmosphere. The light is bent towards the moon, and while other colors in the spectrum are blocked, red manages to get through. The shade of red depends on what other things (dust, clouds, etc.) are in the atmosphere.
How rare is a total supermoon lunar eclipse? The last occurrence was in 1982, and the next will not be until 2033.
Hopefully you were able to get a good look at this phenomena Sunday night, and if not, you've got a little while to wait until the next one.
