Set your alarm to see the Blood Moon
Staff Reporter EARLY on Monday, the Sun, Earth and Moon will align and for the first time since 21 January 2019 completely eclipse the Moon.
According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in a total lunar eclipse, the entire Moon falls within the darkest part of Earth’s shadow, called the umbra.
When the Moon is within the umbra, it will turn a reddish hue.
Lunar eclipses are sometimes called “Blood Moons” because of this phenomenon. “The same phenomenon that makes our sky blue and our sunsets red causes the Moon to turn red during a lunar eclipse.
It’s called Rayleigh scattering. Light travels in waves, and different colours of light have different physical properties.
Blue light has a shorter wavelength and is scattered more easily by particles in Earth’s atmosphere than red light, which has a longer wavelength,” NASA said of the spectacle. At 04:28 on Monday the Moon enters Earth's umbra and by 05:28 you can see the total lunar eclipse.
The Moon leaves the Earth's umbra at 06:56. For those refusing to get up early or living at the coast with its perpetual foggy skies, NASA will feature live-streams of the eclipse from locations across the globe.
