Skygazers across the world, including South Africa, can witness the stunning event this weekend.
South Africans will be seeing red this weekend with a spectacular lunar eclipse to grace the night sky.
Skygazers across the world can witness the stunning event this weekend. A Blood Moon will bathe a large swathe of the world, including South Africa, in red light on Sunday night during a total lunar eclipse.
Blood Moon
This occurs when the earth is positioned precisely between the moon and the sun, resulting in the earth’s shadow falling on the surface of the moon.
The peak visibility of the Blood Moon will be at around 8.11pm, and the entire eclipse will take place from 7.30pm to 8.52pm.
When and where
Dr. Daniel Cunnama, science engagement astronomer at the South African Astronomical Observatory in Cape Town, said no special glasses or filters will be needed to view the incredible scene.
“The lunar eclipse will be happening on Sunday evening just after sunset, so the sun will be setting and then the moon rising at a similar time, just after six, and from then onwards, the moon will pass into the shadow of the earth, with the darkest period where the moon is the reddest.
“Then the complete shadow will take place from about 7.30pm until 8.52pm, so there’ll be almost an hour and a half of the lunar eclipse to see, and it’ll be rising in the east, so it should be a spectacular sight,” Cunnama said.
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Common
Cunnama said, unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are very common.
“They’re much more common than solar eclipses. Solar eclipses are irregular, but you can probably expect to have one in about 20 to 30 years, whereas a lunar eclipse can happen maybe every 18 months or so, depending on where you are.
“The last lunar eclipse was in March, but it wasn’t total in Cape Town, so we just had a small lunar eclipse at that time,” Cunnama said.
No equipment
Cunnama said the lunar eclipse can be viewed with the naked eye.
“So, you just want to be able to look to the eastern horizon if you have one. You don’t want to be somewhere on the Camps Bay seaboard with the mountains in the way, but other than that, you can just look with your naked eyes and even a telescope or binoculars will be fine and perfectly safe.
Cunnama added that the cloudy conditions may obstruct visibility.
“If it’s cloudy on Sunday evening wherever you are in South Africa, that’s going to be a problem; you won’t be able to see the moon clearly.”
He said the lunar eclipse will be largely visible in most of Asia, Australasia and Africa.
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Myths
While lunar eclipses have fascinated cultures across the globe and inspired several striking myths and legends, many of which portray the event as an omen, Cunnama said that this was a result of the lunar eclipse being difficult to understand.
Marauding demons, murderous pets and ravenous jaguars are just some of the culprits that cultures around the world have blamed for the moon’s disappearance during lunar eclipses.
“These events are all noticeable and difficult to understand, and I think that you know humans always told stories to try to understand things which they didn’t understand. Therefore these myths and legends creep up around something like a lunar eclipse, which is a rare and exciting event.”
Solar eclipse
Cunnama said South Africa is expected to experience a total solar eclipse on 25 November, 2030, with large parts of the country expected to experience it.
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