“Find the moon and watch it dark and red …”
JG / Alamy photography
My feelings about the moon have changed in the past year, when I gave birth to the day not only a full moon, but a harvest moon.
During the first months of my son’s life, the passing time was very strange – there was little distinction between day and night. But the almost month of the moon cycle was there to remind me that the months were running. Whenever I saw a full moon, I knew that 29.5 days had passed. It was a reminder that my son was about a month old.
It is now almost a year later, and the next full moon will be particularly special. On September 7, 2025, there will be a total lunar eclipse.
It will be visible for people in most of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, as well as in certain parts of South America. From where I live, in the United Kingdom, the eclipse will start when the moon is below the horizon, but about 20 minutes later, around 7:30 p.m., it will become visible and thus remain until the eclipse ends.
As I said, the moon orbit around the earth every 29.5 days. During a full moon, our planet is between the moon and the sun, so that the entire face of the moon reflects the light towards the earth.
But because the orbit of the moon is slightly tilted from the earth around the sun, the three bodies do not line up in a single plane – a phenomenon known as syzygia – during each orbit.
When syzygia occurs during a new moon, we get a solar eclipse. When syzygia occurs during a full moon, there is a total lunar eclipse.
When this happens, the moon moves in a shadow thrown by the earth. This is why the moon is always visible during a lunar eclipse – it seems just darker and redder. The only light that still reaches the surface of the moon and is reflected back on us has crossed the atmosphere of the earth, which disperses most of the wavelengths of light except the reds.
To determine when to see the eclipse and what part will be visible from where you live, you can use interactive Eclipse cards. They will give you the best idea of how to see it.
Unlike a solar eclipse, you do not need special protective equipment to see a lunar eclipse – just a clear sky. Once you know when watching, find the moon and watch it darken and red (photo). You may want to see what it looks like through certain twins. If you live in the United Kingdom, the moon will be weak on the oriental horizon that night, you will therefore have to find a place with a clear view in the east.
This specific event is known as Harvest Blood Moon – “harvest” because it is the full moon that occurs just before the fall equinox, and “blood” due to the red color of the moon during an eclipse.
I do not know if it is still old enough to appreciate it, but I will take my son, born on a harvest moon, to show him the total eclipse.
Abigail Beall is editor -in -chief of New Scientist and author of The Art of Urban Astronomy. Follow it @Abbybeall
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