We hope all of you living across the Americas, Europe and Africa didn’t miss the last night’s spectacular show in the sky. From Sunday night into today’s early morning, we saw “the Blood Moon” in our night sky. It was a total lunar eclipse that lasted one and a half hours long. Also, it was the first Blood Moon of the year. But what actually is this astronomical event is. Here’s our guide to lunar eclipses in 2022.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes directly between the Moon and the Sun and casts a shadow on the lunar surface. According to European Space Agency, a lunar eclipse can be cast for as long as six hours. The Earth casts two shadows that fall on Moon during a lunar eclipse, which are Penumbra and the Umbra. Umbra is the innermost part of Earth’s shadow and is dark and the Penumbra is the outermost part of the Earth’s shadow. The type of lunar eclipse depends on where the Moon sits inside the Earth’s shadow. If it passes through the Umbra, then a total lunar eclipse will occur but if it passes through the Penumbra, then a Penumbral lunar eclipse will occur.
What we saw yesterday night was a total lunar eclipse. During a total lunar eclipse, the lunar surface turns rusty red in color, that’s why it is called Blood Moon. It is because when sunlight enters the Earth’s atmosphere it scatters into different wavelengths. The shorter wavelength such as blue light scatters outwards while longer wavelengths such as red light get refracted into Earth’s Umbra. When the Moon passes through Earth’s Umbra during a total lunar eclipse, the red light reflects off the lunar surface.
In 2022 will see two lunar eclipses that will be visible across many parts of the world. The first one that occurred last night 15-16 May lasted one and a half hours long. If you missed this, then turn on the reminder for the next total lunar eclipse which is on the 8th of November and will be visible in parts of Asia, Australia, the Pacific, and the Americas.