The Super Blood Wolf Moon delighted skywatchers in Britain, the United States, western Europe, and North and South America. Not everywhere in the UK was fortunate enough to see the lunar phenomenon due to heavy cloud. But for skygazers with a clear view, the reward was a large coppery globe lighting up the sky. Today’s blood moon is the first and only lunar eclipse of 2019, with the next one now not until May 26, 2021.
But 2019 will see five eclipses in total with a total solar eclipse, a partial lunar eclipse and an annular solar eclipse still to come.
What causes a lunar eclipse?
Lunar eclipses occur during full moons when the sun, Earth and moon align either fully or partially.
The phenomenon sees the moon passing directly behind the Earth and into its shadow, blocking out sunlight.
Some light does pass through as it is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere and this ends up looking red to the naked eye.
This is because of a phenomenon known as Rayleigh scattering, the same reason why sunsets and sunrises are red.
When the light passes through the Earth’s atmosphere, longer wavelengths such as reds, yellows and orange are able to pass through easily.
But shorter wavelengths such as blue and violet are scattered and sent flying so cannot be seen.
The result is the crimson blood moon as seen this morning.
What about a solar eclipse?
A solar eclipse is a rare astronomical event caused by a new moon moving between the sun and Earth.
This blocks out the sun’s rays and casts a shadow onto the Earth.
In a total solar eclipse, the whole of the sun is blocked while in partial and annual eclipses, just some of the burning star is obstructed.
The phenomenon is rarer than a lunar eclipse due to the moon’s non-circular orbit which causes its shadow to normally miss Earth.
Solar eclipses are also only visible from a limited part of Earth whereas lunar eclipses can be viewed anywhere.
Looking at the sun directly can cause blindness so you should never look directly at the sky during a solar eclipse.
Special eye protection must be worn or use a pinhole projector.
If your view was obstructed by cloud, or you were still sleeping in bed during today’s eclipse, there is another way to still watch it.
You can live stream the celestial event on TimeandDate.com.
And there is not too long to see another night-time display soon with a partial lunar eclipse visible from the UK on July 16, 2019.
The lunar event will peak about 9.31pm GMT.