5 Fun Facts About The Total Lunar Eclipse
I hope everyone was able to see the blood moon total lunar eclipse. It was beautiful out here on the West Coast. Here are 5 fun facts about the total lunar eclipse. Enjoy.
1. Lunar Eclipses Happen When the Moon is Full
This One Will Be Visible In Many Parts of the World
Lunar eclipses always happen at the full moon.
During a lunar eclipse, the moon passes directly behind the Earth into its shadow (called the umbra). This can only happen during a full moon because the Earth, Sun and Moon must be aligned exactly
2. While The Term “Blood Moon” is New to Astronomy, Nearly All Total Lunar Eclipses Appear Some Shade of Red
The full moon appears a coppery shade of red during a total lunar eclipse due to the sunlight being filtered and refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere.
Earth’s shadow is visible creeping across the moon’s face, and this shadow will grow until it completely covers the moon. Then at totality, when the moon is fully covered by the Earth’s shadow, the blood red tinge will appear. This short NASA video does a phenomenal job describing why the moon turns red during an eclipse.
The term “Blood Moon” comes from biblical prophecy.
What makes tonight's blood moon so significant is that the final blood moon in a rare series of four full lunar eclipses each spaced out six months apart, known as a lunar tetrad. All fell on Jewish holidays!
Some say the fourth blood moon is the beginning of the Apocalypse.
3. A Total Lunar Eclipse During a Supermoon Will Not Occur Again Until 2033!
During some lunar eclipses can last up to an hour or more. April’s lunar eclipse was the shortest of the entire century.
Tonight's eclipse is going to last around 1 hour and 12 minutes, with the entire duration of the eclipse lasting over 5 hours.
This eclipse also falls on a Supermoon, meaning that the moon will be at its closest point all year in its elliptical orbit making it appear 14% larger in the night sky than a typical full moon.
The full moon in September is traditionally known as the Harvest Moon in the Northern Hemisphere, falling closest to the fall equinox. In the Southern Hemisphere, this is the first full moon of spring.
The next total lunar eclipse falling on a supermoon won’t happen again until 2033.
4. It is Unclear if Lunar Eclipses Influence People’s Feelings and Behavior
In many cultures the belief exists that full moons and lunar eclipses have some kind of impact of human feelings and behavior. In ancient cultures, it was strongly believed that the lunar cycle impacted women’s hormones and fertility.
Full moons impact the tides and the human body.
5. Lunar Eclipses Are Believed to be Auspicious Times for Growth, Release and New Beginnings. This One May Feel Especially Intense
Lunar eclipses are usually associated with releasing what no longer serves you to create new beginnings and spur your personal growth. However, the exact changes that are stimulated will depend quite a lot on the astrological signs that the sun and the moon fall into during the eclipse.
This Eclipse and Your Relationships
Tonight's full moon falls in the sign Aries, which is why this eclipse carries strong energies related to assertiveness, action and individualism.
You might be feeling especially driven to express yourself, assert your feelings to someone, or take actions in a situation that involves someone else. The sun in Libra directs our attention towards establishing balance and fairness in our relationships with others, acting as a polarity to the independence of Aries. We are therefore being pushed to find balance between meeting the needs of ourselves and meeting the needs of others, driven to reconcile our self-autonomy with our dependence on others.
This eclipse marks the ending of the lunar tetrad cycle along the Libra-Aries axis that began in April of last year. Each of these eclipses challenged us in different ways to assert our own personal needs, while also recognizing the importance of caring for others. Since this cycle began, many of us have experienced intense personal and relational challe