Eclipse 2019: What causes a lunar eclipse? Super Blood Moon explained

Eclipse-hunters around the world have suffered freezing temperatures to catch a sight of the extremely rare Super Blood Wolf Moon. The Moon appeared bigger and brighter than normal this morning – a phenomenon called a Supermoon. And our natural satellite also gave off an other-worldly crimson glow, known as a Blood Moon.

The Moon’s orbit has brought it close to Earth, making it approximately 16 percent brighter and 13 percent larger.

The entire eclipse was visible from the UK and much of Europe, while North and South America enjoyed the best views.

The clearest views in the UK were across the southeast and the northern and western extremities.

The best time to view the eclipse was at 5.12am GMT in the UK, coinciding with the maximum eclipse as the Moon was completely submerged within the Earth’s shadow.

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What caused the Super Blood Wolf Moon?

The Super Blood Wolf Moon is the product of three lunar phenomena.

This paints the Moon’s surface a sinister crimson shade, in addition to being brighter and larger than normal.

A lunar eclipse describes when the Earth moves in perfect alignment between the Moon and Sun, blocking solar rays from hitting our celestial satellite.

But unlike a solar eclipse where the Sun vanishes, the Moon does not fully disappear from view and instead adopts a different colour.

This is the result of the Earth scattering light so that only red and orange parts of the colour spectrum reach the Moon.

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The Royal Observatory Greenwich explained: “An eclipse of the Moon occurs when the Earth lies directly between the Sun and the Moon and the Moon lies in the shadow of the Earth.

“During a total eclipse, the Moon does not disappear entirely but turns a deep, dark red.

“The Moon is illuminated by light that has passed through the Earth’s atmosphere and has been bent back towards the Moon by refraction.”

Additional eclipsing, known as penumbral and partial eclipsing, also occurred today.

A penumbral eclipse occurs when the Moon moves through the outermost and faintest portion of the Earth’s shadow – the penumbra.

Partial eclipsing also preceded totality when the Moon slowly entered and then left the Earth’s darkest shadow – the umbra.

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Why is it called a Super Blood Wolf Moon?

According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, Native Americans named the January Full Moon the Wolf Moon because wolves would apparently start howling in hunger in that month.

Last night’s Wolf Moon eclipse was all the more special because the lunar disk appeared even larger than normal.

The Moon was at perigee – its closest point to Earth – only 59 minutes before the eclipse’s height.

The lunar disk appeared as a result 16 percent brighter and 13 percent larger than a regular Full Moon.

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source: express.co.uk