Blood Moon

Blood Moon

              What is a blood moon?

A lunar eclipse or a blood moon occurs when the Moon passes directly behind the Earth into its umbra (shadow). This can occur only when the sun, Earth, and moon are aligned  exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, a lunar eclipse can occur only the night of a full moon. The type and length of an eclipse depend upon the Moon's location relative to its orbital nodes.

A total lunar eclipse has the direct sunlight completely blocked by the earth's shadow. The only light seen is refracted through the earth's shadow. This light looks red for the same reason that the sunset looks red, due to rayleigh scattering of the more blue light. Because of its reddish color, a total lunar eclipse is sometimes called a blood moon.

Unlike a solar eclipse, which can be viewed only from a certain relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of the Earth. A lunar eclipse lasts for a few hours, whereas a total solar eclipse lasts for only a few minutes at any given place, due to the smaller size of the Moon's shadow. Also unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are safe to view without any eye protection or special precautions, as they are dimmer than the full moon.

Pictures of Blood Moons.

Phases of a Blood Moon

Video of a Blood Moon
Time Lapse of a Total Eclipse
What a Blood Moon will look like

Super Moon

Super Moon

A supermoon is a full moon or a new moon that approximately coincides with the closest distance that the Moon reaches to Earth in its elliptic orbit, resulting in a slightly larger-than-usual apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from Earth. The technical name is the perigee syzygy of the Earth–Moon–Sun system or more simply full (or new) Moon at perigee. The term supermoon is astrological in origin, and has no precise astronomical definition.

The real association of the Moon with both oceanic and crustal tides has led to claims that the supermoon phenomenon may be associated with increased risk of events like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, but no such link has been found.

The opposite phenomenon, an apogee syzygy, has been called a micromoon, though this term is not as widespread as supermoon. Also, some do not consider new Moons near perigee as supermoons.

Pictures of Super Moons

Time Lapse of a Super Moon

Video of a Super Moon

Blue Moon

Blue Moon

A blue moon is an additional full moon that appears in a subdivision of a year: either the third of four full moons in a season, or a second full moon in a month of the common calendar.

The phrase has nothing to do with the actual color of the moon, although a literal "blue moon" (the moon appearing with a tinge of blue) may occur in certain atmospheric conditions: e.g., if volcanic eruptions or fires leave particles in the atmosphere of just the right size to preferentially scatter red light.^[1]

Pictures of Blue Moons

What is a Blue Moon?

Time Lapse of a Blue Moon