Blood Moon

[Big V]

This morning the Moon went into a full Lunar eclipse, where the shadow of the Earth falls on it. As a result of the atmosphere scattering the shorter wavelengths of light (blue) and allowing the longer (red), the Moon turns a distinctive red colour when this happens. I was dogged by heavy cloud for this event but around 5.40 this morning managed to squeeze this single shot out...not perfect due to the high cloud but happy to have captured this event.

[DebT]

You certainly did better than me in the burbs,
I got a couple in the early phase with the same high cloud blur but just as it go to this stage I had low cloud and that was the end of that. Thanks for the tech info nice to understand the real reson for the color.
Deb

[Matt. K]

Beautiful image! Something enchanting about it.

[gstark]

I believe that this event occurs every once in a blue moon?


Magnificent image; well done. Degree of difficulty? 7, I guess.

[Remorhaz]

Scary - bet the crazies were out in force

[Big V]

Hmmm, well yes I was out. As for blue moons, that normally refers to two full moons in one calendar month. As for the next lunar eclipse, that will be on the 10th of December. Hopefully it will be cloud free so I can improve.

[gstark]

As for blue moons, that normally refers to two full moons in one calendar month.

While that's the generally accepted definition, I believe that it's actually a corrupted one as well.

My understanding is that it more correctly refers to the third blue moon in a season where that season enjoys four full moons. Wikipedia seems to support this theory, adding ...

The Farmers' Almanac defined blue moon as an extra full moon that occurred in a season; one season was normally three full moons. If a season had four full moons, then the third full moon was named a blue moon.

Recent popular usage defined a blue moon as the second full moon in a calendar month, stemming from an interpretation error made in 1946 that was discovered in 1999. For example, December 31, 2009 was a blue moon according to this usage.

Which pretty much matches my understanding.

[petermmc]

Great shot and I am jealous.

I got up at 3.15 yesterday morn and couldnt find the moon which was obscured by heavy clouds....no one cared about my herioic deed standing in the middle of the road at 3.30 am freezing cold, as I didnt get the shot.

Peter Mc

[gstark]

Peter,

I care.

Truly I do.

[Mr Darcy]

I got up at 3.15 yesterday morn and couldnt find the moon which was obscured by heavy clouds....no one cared about my herioic deed standing in the middle of the road at 3.30 am freezing cold, as I didnt get the shot.

Meh!
There is this wonderful website that uses arcane lore to predict the actual visibility of these celestial events. While the wizards that maintain it are not 100% accurate as sometimes a hitherto unknown demon makes its presence felt, they usually do a damn fine job. I used it and stayed in bed.

Thank you BigV for living where the sun DOES shine, albeit as a faint reflection. Oh and for posting the result.

[zafra52]

Excellent shot! I can see why in the middle ages
the folks saw this as a sign of war and disaster.

[Big V]

Gary, thanks for the link, interesting to see the definitions there. We (the astronomy community) have over simplified the definition it appears, although to have the extra full moon stil means we need to have two in one month. Febuary is the only month where this can not happen. Have to blame it on this "Sky and Telescope calendar misinterpretation

The March 1946 Sky and Telescope article "Once in a Blue Moon" by James Hugh Pruett misinterpreted the 1937 Maine Farmers' Almanac. "Seven times in 19 years there were — and still are — 13 full moons in a year. This gives 11 months with one full moon each and one with two. This second in a month, so I interpret it, was called Blue Moon." Widespread adoption of the definition of a "blue moon" as the second full moon in a month followed its use on the popular radio program StarDate on January 31, 1980.[1]"

Any way December the 10th lets us try again at a more reasonable hour around 12.30 and being summer should be quite nice conditions to photograph this event.

[surenj]

Any way December the 10th lets us try again at a more reasonable hour around 12.30 and being summer should be quite nice conditions to photograph this event.

Excellent, Nice to have this on a weekend so more people can participate.

[aim54x]

Great image!