‘Super Blue Blood Moon’- There weren’t any traces of blood, and the moon was definitely not blue.
On Wednesday evening, about 80 spectators, mostly students, filled the residence of Christopher Go, in Barangay Banilad, Cebu City to experience a rare lunar phenomenon that took over the night sky: the “Super Blue Blood Moon.”
So what do all of these adjectives mean exactly?
According to Go, the short explanation is that this is an eclipse of the full moon that happens to have really good timing. However, for a longer explanation, we’ll need to analyze each word, and start with the end and work our way backward.
The term “Blood Moon”, said Go, who is a member of the American Astronomical Society, is that it is used to describe a total lunar eclipse, because it causes the moon to turn into a dark reddish color.
This happens whenever the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon. The moon falls into our planet’s shadow called umbra. However, the moon does not go complete dark though.
Go said that suns light still shine onto the lunar surface, thanks to a phenomenon called “scattering.” Whenever the sunlight passes through the atmosphere of the Earth, the air molecules will filter different types of light, said Go.
Blues and green are the easiest to filter since they have shorter wavelengths, while red and orange, which have longer wavelengths can easily pass through the atmosphere-which gives a red-orange hues in the moon.
According to Go, a moon is considered a “Blue Moon” when it is the second full moon in a calendar month. “This does not happen very often since full moons happen every 29.5 days,” said Go.
Curious students from PAREF Southcrest School in Cebu City marvel at the beauty of the astronimical trifecta.
Maria Theresa Maturan, who teaches Sciences at the schools thanked Go for opening his doors to her students.
“The astronomical event is a once in a lifetime oppotunity,and is a very educational avenue where student can go beyond what is seen in the books and experience the beauty of astronomy.,” said Maturan.
About 50 students, who are classmates of Go’s third child, Frances, watched the celestial show at the second floor of their house.
Filling the nigh-time’s silence with applause when the moon turned red.
Between 10 to 11 p.m., the moon will move away from its umbra state, and will end before midnight.