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Blood moon total lunar eclipse shines red across Australia
Rain in Sydney and clouds in Melbourne disrupt the view but other areas get perfect conditions for the lunar phenomenon
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It rained in Sydney and there was patchy cloud in Melbourne, but skywatchers elsewhere in Australia got a clear view of the lunar eclipse that turned the moon blood red on Wednesday night.
The eclipse started at around 8.15pm on the east coast and lasted until around 11.30pm. The eclipse “totality”, when the Earth’s shadow falls completely over the moon, lasted for around an hour.
When the Earth aligns perfectly to block the sun’s light to the moon, only sunlight that bends around the Earth’s atmosphere reaches the lunar satellite. The moon’s colour change is because red light travels through air more easily than other colours.
People in central and western Australia were given a decent view of one of the solar system’s most striking displays.
Dr Michael Brown, astronomer at Monash University, said he got a good view of the eclipse from his Melbourne home.
“Every once in a while you’d see the flash of red colour and just after the end of totality there was a thin sliver of bright light as the Earth’s shadow moved away,” he told Guardian Australia. “It was quite dramatic and it was great to see all the photos coming in from around the world.”
If you missed it, there will be a partial lunar eclipse in April. But if you’re after another full lunar eclipse, you’ll have to wait until 2018.
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