The blood moon dazzled thousands of sky-watchers around the world in the early hours of Friday, November 19, in what NASA described as the longest lunar eclipse of the century.

Solar and lunar eclipses occur when the sun, the Earth and the moon lie on the same line, and according to NASA, this happens 4 to 7 times a year.

In the early hours of yesterday, November 19, sky watchers set their eyes on the moon to monitor its longest partial eclipse of the current century.

According to Live Science, this lunar eclipse is the longest in 580 years.

Websites and social media pages were filled with pictures of the partial eclipse, taken by sky watchers from around the world.

What is the phenomenon of a lunar eclipse?

How does a lunar eclipse happen?

lunar eclipse

A lunar eclipse occurs, according to NASA, when the moon is full, that is, when it is full.

When the Earth, the Moon and the Sun are aligned in one straight line, and the Earth falls between the Moon and the Sun, as the Earth casts its shadows on the Moon’s surface, either it darkens or turns it red for a few hours.

A lunar eclipse can be seen from one hemisphere.

There are 3 types of lunar eclipses, namely the total eclipse called the blood moon, when the entire moon falls in the region of the Earth’s shadow, the partial eclipse when only part of the moon falls in the region of the Earth’s shadow, and the semi-shadow eclipse, when the moon passes through the region of the semi-shadow of the Earth and blackout occurs slight in its surface.

A little video from the eclipse tonight.

After :10 seconds in check out the time lapse.

That's 30 minutes condensed to :5 secs so you can see the earths shadow advancing across the moon.

#arwx #LunarEclipse #LunarEclipse2021 @weatherdan pic.twitter.com/LUNxyCh2iM

— Brian Emfinger (@brianemfinger) November 19, 2021

What is the phenomenon of the blood moon?

When a total eclipse occurs, the entire moon is in the darkest part of the Earth's shadow and turns a deep red color.

The last eclipse is almost total because the Earth's shadow covered about 97% of the moon at the full moon.

A total lunar eclipse is sometimes called a "blood moon" because of the redness of the moon, which goes back to a phenomenon called "Rayleigh scattering" after the British physicist Lord Riley.

This phenomenon refers to the scattering of electromagnetic radiation by particles of diameter less than the wavelength of the radiation.

It is known that light travels to Earth in waves, and each color of light has different physical properties.

While the blue color is characterized by its short wavelength, which helps it to disperse quickly, the long wavelength of the red color allows it to travel directly through the atmosphere.

When a lunar eclipse occurs, the moon turns red because the sun's rays that reach the moon pass through the Earth's atmosphere, where they are scattered by dust particles, and the more dust or clouds in the atmosphere, the redder the moon.

Millions of enthusiasts watched the lunar eclipse in the early hours of Friday (communication sites) awaited the lunar eclipse.

What is the difference between a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse?

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon is in the new phase, and the moon is located between the earth and the sun and casts its shadows on the earth, blocking the sunlight either partially or completely during the day.

Although the diameter of the sun is larger than the diameter of the moon by about 400 times;

The moon is 400 times closer to the earth, and for this reason the moon can completely block the sun’s light when the moon, the sun and the earth are in one straight line.

Why was the last partial eclipse described as the longest in hundreds of years?

NASA reported that this partial eclipse lasted 3 hours, 28 minutes and 23 seconds, and a partial lunar eclipse of this length would not occur until February 2669.

There are two reasons for the length of this eclipse. The first is that the moon's orbit around the Earth is not completely circular, but rather appears to be relatively tilted.

The closer the moon is to the earth, the faster it revolves around the earth, and the farther away it is from the earth, the lower its rotation speed.

At the moment, the moon has reached its farthest point from the Earth, and then it is slowly moving in the Earth's shadow.

The second reason is that the moon spends more time in the shadow of the Earth in a semi-total eclipse, compared to a partial eclipse.


https://moon.nasa.gov/system/video_items/118_eclipse_202111_wide_1080p30.mp4

How to pray the eclipse?

When seeing a lunar eclipse, the eclipse prayer is prescribed. Abu Masoud, may God be pleased with him, narrated that the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said, “The sun and the moon are two of the signs of God, through which God fears His servants, and that they do not eclipse due to the death of any of the people. If you see something from them, pray. And pray until what is in you is revealed.”

The eclipse prayer is legislated when it is seen with the eye.

As for how it is performed, the eclipse prayer is two rak’ahs, in each rak’ah there are two prostrations. And ordered a lot of remembrance and forgiveness.

It is possible to pray at any time when the eclipse occurred.

Other Opportunities for Skywatchers

And if you missed watching this lunar eclipse, the Timeanddate website and the Holcomb Observatory at Butler University in Indiana indicate that the next total lunar eclipse will occur on the 15th and May 16, 2022.

Residents of southern and western Europe, southern and western Asia, Africa and some parts of North and South America will be able to see it clearly.

And NASA indicated that a complete solar eclipse will occur in December 2021.