What is a Blood Moon?

A Blood Moon occurs when the Moon of the Earth is on total lunar Eclipse. During this time, the moon looks red or ruddy brown. Thus it is called Blood Moon. The next Blood Moon is to occur on May 26, 2021. The last Blood Moon occurred on January 20-21, 2019.

Why does the colour of the moon changes during Blood Moon?

Lunar Eclipses happen only during a full moon. During this time, the moon is completely under the Earth’s shadow. At this time, a little bit of the sunlight that reaches the earth during sunrise and sunset falls on the moon. It can be noted that the sky is red in colour during sunrise and sunset. This means during this time out of all the seven VIBGYOR colours in the white light, only red reaches the earth. This red colour light is reflected on the moon and thus the moon turned into a Blood Moon.

Do all full moons have eclipses?

No. This is because, the plane in which the earth revolves around the sun and the plane in which the moon revolves around the earth are different. Eclipses occur only when the planes coincide.

Why is the sky red during sunset and sunrise?

As the sun is at the horizon (imaginary line where the surface of the earth and the sky meets), the sunlight has to travel a longer distance to reach the earth’s surface. It means that during this time of the day, the light has to encounter more atmospheric particles. These particles scatter maximum amount of the light. Of all the VIBGYOR colours in the sunlight, Red has the highest wavelength and thus can withstand scattering and manage to reach the earth’s surface. Other colours get scattered away during their journey towards the earth.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2021