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DPA
BERLIN
IF you missed it, set your calendar for May 26, 2021, because you’re going to have to wait that long for the next total lunar eclipse.
But if you stayed up for it - or got up really early - the eclipse that passed over the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia early Monday thrilled the celestially inclined watching as the Earth moved between the sun and the moon.
Lots of people braved the cold in the Americas and northern Europe, where the best views could be had, to snap pictures of the moon. The images were even more exceptional thanks to the fact that the moon was especially close to the Earth.
It was a ‘blood moon’, named so due to the reddish-orange colour that the moon takes on during the eclipse. The colour changes because small molecules that make up the Earth’s atmosphere scatter blue light as sunlight passes through it, leaving behind mostly red light that bends, or refracts, into Earth’s shadow.
Multiple people shared images of an orangish-red moon, with many enthusiasts commenting on the cold they had endured or the hour they had to awake to get the shot.
They were balanced out by people complaining they couldn’t see the moon due to clouds or those who got tired of waiting to see the moon and instead posted photos of something that looked like the moon, such as a pancake hanging from a clothes line.
Website space.com estimated that millions of people across America turned out for the event. Views were best in North and South America, though partial versions of the eclipse could be seen across large parts of the world.
The potential viewing audience was 2.8 billion people.
The next expected eclipse will be a total solar eclipse on July 2, but it is expected to only be easily seen from the Pacific and southern South America, according to the EclipseWise website.
BERLIN
IF you missed it, set your calendar for May 26, 2021, because you’re going to have to wait that long for the next total lunar eclipse.
But if you stayed up for it - or got up really early - the eclipse that passed over the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia early Monday thrilled the celestially inclined watching as the Earth moved between the sun and the moon.
Lots of people braved the cold in the Americas and northern Europe, where the best views could be had, to snap pictures of the moon. The images were even more exceptional thanks to the fact that the moon was especially close to the Earth.
It was a ‘blood moon’, named so due to the reddish-orange colour that the moon takes on during the eclipse. The colour changes because small molecules that make up the Earth’s atmosphere scatter blue light as sunlight passes through it, leaving behind mostly red light that bends, or refracts, into Earth’s shadow.
Multiple people shared images of an orangish-red moon, with many enthusiasts commenting on the cold they had endured or the hour they had to awake to get the shot.
They were balanced out by people complaining they couldn’t see the moon due to clouds or those who got tired of waiting to see the moon and instead posted photos of something that looked like the moon, such as a pancake hanging from a clothes line.
Website space.com estimated that millions of people across America turned out for the event. Views were best in North and South America, though partial versions of the eclipse could be seen across large parts of the world.
The potential viewing audience was 2.8 billion people.
The next expected eclipse will be a total solar eclipse on July 2, but it is expected to only be easily seen from the Pacific and southern South America, according to the EclipseWise website.
