It has been nearly 35 years since the last Super Blue Blood Moon was visible on Earth. The Trifecta of cosmic goodness will be visible tonight and we can’t wait to see all the amazing images people take.
The last Super Blue Blood Moon was seen in December 1982 and consisted of a supermoon, a blue moon, and a total lunar eclipse. That is what is in store for the global population this evening.
We were curious to understand what exactly a Super Blue Blood Moon entailed so we googled each one separately and this is what we found:
A Supermoon
“A supermoon is a full moon or a new moon that approximately coincides with the closest distance that the Moon reaches to Earth in its elliptic orbit, resulting in a slightly larger-than-usual apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from Earth”
Meaning the moon looks larger and brighter than normal. This full moon on the 31st will appear about 7% bigger and 14% brighter than usual.
A Blue Moon
“A blue moon is an additional full moon that appears in a subdivision of a year: either the third of four full moons in a season or a second full moon in a month of the common calendar.”
In this case, it is the second full moon in January 2018.
A Blood Moon
“The Blood Moon occurs because the Earth is passing between the Moon and the Sun, which gives the Moon a reddish tint to it. It’s caused by light bending around the Earth because of gravity passing around a portion of the atmosphere, more commonly known as a lunar eclipse.”
The coolest part is NASA will be live streaming the moon for anyone who is unable to see it for themselves. You can follow the live stream on NASA’s YouTube account.
If you are in South Africa, the best time to tune in for the full lunar eclipse is today, 31st January 2018, from 13:00 pm to 14:00 pm (SA Time) which is 5 am to 6 am PST (US).
Sadly, South Africans won’t be able to view the Lunar Eclipse in person because we are not in the right place, but we can definitely see it on the live stream. We get to have a full Lunar Eclipse on the 27th – 28th of July 2018.
The live stream video is below and currently showing the Earths rotation. It will switch over to the Eclipse stream shortly.
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