The super blood moon which was viewed last night was a “really spectacular feat” in which sunrise and sunset were “projected” onto the moon’s surface, according to ANU cosmologist and astrophysicist Dr Brad Tucker.
“It turned out well … it cleared up beautifully here in Canberra and Sydney, I think and even Melbourne, notorious for its bad weather, was able to pull off some clear patches,” he said.
“So it looks like there’s been some great shots and views all across Australia seeing that nice red colour”.
Dr Tucker told Sky News the phenomenon takes place every couple of years when the moon passes into the Earth’s shadow.
“Those who were watching last night slowly saw the moon darken from like five o’clock … until a sufficient amount of the moon’s surface was covered in that shadow and it started to have that reddish hue that we saw,” he said.
“That reddish hue is coming from … essentially Earth’s atmosphere. A little bit of sunlight skims the Earth’s atmosphere, goes off into space and lights it up.
“Literally seeing sunrise and sunset projected on the moon, so it was a really spectacular feat."
18 сен 2024
