Lunar Eclipse

Recently our globe witnessed a super lunar eclipse and a blood moon on March 26, 2021. For context and reference, the earth circles the sun, and one complete orbit of the sun by the earth is considered a year in our time. The moon circles the earth, and one complete orbit of the moon around the earth is considered a month. A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon is in the earth's umbral shadow completely, so in essence, when the earth blocks the moon completely from the sun's light. So this event is at a point when the earth, moon, and sun are lined up in a line with aligning angled orbits. In this type of lunar eclipse, the blue wavelengths of light are scattered outwards from the earth's atmosphere, and the lower energy red wavelengths are directed and refracted at the center of the moon, causing the moon to have a reddish colouring to it. The shade of red seen in the moon in such an event depends on the amount of dust and pollutants in the earth's atmosphere during the eclipse. Now, a supermoon is an event that occurs when the moon appears bigger or closer to the earth than normal. The moon's orbit is not an exact circle; it is an elliptical shape, which can be pictured as like a stretched-out circle in one direction. The exact location within the orbit that is the closest point to the earth is called a perigee, and every month the moon passes through this exact point. However, when this point becomes interesting is when the moon is full at this exact location as it seems significantly bigger and closer at this time, and this causes a supermoon to occur. So combining these two magnificent events caused the spectacular moon seen on March 26. An exciting but important fact to keep in mind when looking out for exciting lunar events such as supermoons and lunar eclipses is that, unlike solar eclipses, they are safe to look at directly with your eyes without any added protection. This is because the moon is facing away from the sun's damaging rays during lunar eclipses.