BEAVER
BLOOD MOON - SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
News: ‘Beaver blood moon’ offers world’s last total lunar eclipse until 2025
What's
in the news?
● The Beaver blood moon offers the world's last total lunar eclipse until 2025.
Lunar
eclipse:
●
A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon
passes directly behind the earth into its shadow.
●
The earth,
sun and the moon are either closely or perfectly aligned, with the earth in the
middle.
● The earth’s shadow blocks sunlight from reflecting off the moon, thus resulting in an eclipse – partial or total.
Blood
Moon:
●
A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth casts its shadow completely
over a full moon, blocking reflection of all direct sunlight from the lunar
orb and dimming the colour of the moon to a reddish hue, hence the term “blood
moon.”
● It is only possible when the orbits of the Earth, moon and sun align so that the moon is directly behind Earth relative to the sun.
Why
Red?
●
It is caused by rays of sunlight around
the outer edge of the eclipse shadow, or umbra, being filtered and refracted as
it passes through Earth’s atmosphere, bathing the moon indirectly in a dim
copper glow.
● The degree of redness depends on atmospheric conditions that vary with levels of air pollution, dust storms, wildfire smoke and even volcanic ash.
How
Rare?
●
Total lunar eclipses occur, on average,
about once every year and a half,
(but vary) event marked the second blood moon this year, following one in
mid-May.
● The next one is not expected until March 14, 2025.
How
Long?
●
The entire eclipse unfolded over a period
of nearly six hours as the moon
gradually edged into the Earth’s paler, outer shadow, its “penumbra,” then
entered the Earth’s darker, inner shadow, or “umbra,” before reaching totality
and eventually emerging from the other side.