Blood Moon 2018 & the Longest Eclipse of the 21sth Century
On 27th of June we will be able to witness an astonishing lunar phenomenon, the second lunar eclipse this year, following the one that occurred on 31st of January, which was known as the Super Blue Blood Moon. This time, the moon will turn an eerie shade of red, therefore being called Blood Moon and apparently this eclipse will be the longest of the century.
A filtering effect causing a red moon
As we know by now, a Super Blue Blood Moon, as the one experienced at the beginning of the year, is a combination of a Supermoon, Blue Moon and Blood Moon. Compared to this, the color of the Blood Moon is a result of the Earth covering the Sun and reflecting light indirectly onto the moon, which then, in turn, becomes filtered. Known as Rayleigh scattering, this filtering effect is keeping out violet and green light, which means that only red and orange tones will travel to the moon.
Longest eclipse
It’s also worth mentioning that a Supermoon is basically a full moon, while a Blue Moon is an additional full moon in a month of the common calendar. Recently, astronomers have told us that the lunar eclipse that we will be able to see on 27th of June will be the longest from this century, lasting for one hour and 43 minutes. What does this mean exactly? Well, it simply means that the moon will be covered by a shadow for quite some time, 103 minutes to be precise, which is almost 40 minutes more than how long the Super Blue Blood Moon in January remained in shadow for.
It seems that the peak of the eclipse will be reached around 9:22 p.m. BST, according to astronomer Bruce McClure. Also, there will be a partial eclipse following the longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century.
As our second lead editor, Anna C. Mackinno provides guidance on the stories Great Lakes Ledger reporters cover. She has been instrumental in making sure the content on the site is clear and accurate for our readers. If you see a particularly clever title, you can likely thank Anna. Anna received a BA and and MA from Fordham University.
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