between the sun and the moon. This blocks the sun’s rays from reflecting off the moon as normal.
However, some of the sun’s rays curve around the
earth causing the moon to appear red during a total eclipse. Because of its vivid color, a total lunar eclipse is often referred to by NASA as a Blood Red Moon or Blood Moon. Lunar Eclipse Eclipses of the Moon happen when the Sun, Earth and Moon are aligned to form an almost or exact straight line. The technical term for this is syzygy How Blood Moon Occur?
Sun, Earth and Moon aligned
For a lunar eclipse to occur, the Sun, Earth and Moon must be roughly aligned in a straight line. If the Sun, Earth and Moon do not align, the Earth cannot cast a shadow on the Moon's surface and an eclipse cannot happen. When the Sun, Earth and Moon are not perfectly aligned, only the outer part of the Earth's shadow covers the Moon. Such an eclipse is called a penumbral lunar eclipse. In a total lunar eclipse, the Earth's umbra completely covers the Moon. Earth's 3 shadows The Earth's shadow can be divided into 3 parts: Penumbra - the outer part. Umbra - darker, central part. Antumbra - a partly shaded area beyond the umbra. Only at full moon Total lunar eclipses happen only when: 1. The Sun, Earth and Moon are in a straight line. 2. There is a full Moon. Seven stages of a total lunar eclipse Penumbral eclipse begins Partial eclipse begins Total eclipse begins Maximum eclipse Total eclipse ends Partial eclipse end Penumbral eclipse ends WHY RED?
Nowadays, we know that the eclipse is merely the result
of the moon passing through the shadow of the Earth. The moon never looks entirely dark, because some of the light from the sun is shining through the Earth’s atmosphere and scattered onto the moon. Additionally, there is a lot of dirt and dust in the air, and this can make things look reddish, as well, just as we see during sunsets. Everyone on the night side of the Earth can see a total eclipse of the Moon. For this reason, everyone has higher chances of seeing a total lunar eclipse than a total solar eclipse, even though both occur in similar intervals. A series of 4 consecutive total lunar eclipses with no partial or penumbral lunar eclipses in between is called a lunar tetrad. The October 8, 2014 total lunar eclipse is the second total eclipse of the Moon in the 2014-2015 tetrad. The first one was on April 15, 2014. The last 2 total lunar eclipses in this tetrad will be on April 4, 2015, and September 28, 2015. In recent years, eclipses in a lunar tetrads are popularly called Blood Moons. This term has no technical or astronomical basis and it is unclear where this term comes from.