Once in a century Blood Moon to be held today


With lunar eclipse occurring today, the silvery moon will change its colour and turn blood red. This type of lunar eclipse occurs once in a century and is expected to occur next in 2099. This lunar eclipse will last for about 4 hours after which the moon will return back to its shiny silvery colour. This eclipse would be totally visible in major parts of Asia and Africa and partially visible in some parts of North America, South America and Australia.

Reason Behind Red Colour of Moon

The light from the sun gets dispersed into its constituent colors and the red light with longer wavelength bends towards the moon making it appear red.

The colour change of the moon is a fascinating experience but it also arises queries in minds of the reader that why does this happen. So this occurs because of the splitting of the white light from the Earth's atmosphere. When the moon hides behind the Earth, the sun rays are unable to reach the surface of the moon. The light which grazes through the Earth splits into various colours(VIBGYOR) due to the presence of the Earth's atmosphere. This VIBGYOR bends in the medium according to the wavelength of the respective colour. The red colour being the innermost bends and converges on the moon making it blood red.

Something's Different with this Lunar Eclipse

Although lunar eclipses have always been a subject of interest for the scientists, this one is a bit more special. This is because of the unique arrangement of some planets in the solar system. During this eclipse not only the Sun, the Earth and the Moon will be in a straight line but also the red planet,Mars, will be in collinearity with them. The Mars will lie on the same horizontal line as of the Sun,Earth and Moon. Due to this the red planet will also be nearest to the Earth. This will provide the scientists a good chance to explore the already much curated planet.

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