Once in a blue moon opportunity to see super blue blood moon. Don't miss it
In case the title did not give it away, this is a rare phenomenon of three lunar events converging to occur on the same day, rather the same night.
“Blue moon” usually refers to the phenomenon of having two full moons within the same Calendar month. It occurs once every two years, eight months and 18 days based on the days in our calendar year being 365.2425 and the synodic orbit (Moon’s orbit) cycle being 29.5309 days.
The phrase “once in a blue moon” was born considering the rarity of the event. Why is it called blue moon? Well, there is known to be a bluish tinge when the second full moon is observed. The dust particles in the atmosphere are the reason behind it, yet the name stuck.
The “super moon” refers to the event of the moon coming very close to the earth, only on occasion of it being a full moon. Due to the proximity, the moon would appear to be bigger. It also affects the tides due to the gravitational effect. The super moon could occur four to six times a year depending upon the year.
Across the world, superstition surrounding the supermoon is abundant — some believe it causes volcanic activity and earthquake, that werewolves are most powerful around its appearance, with even ritual sacrifices are made to gain immortality.
This probably has to do with the belief that the moon is bigger and hence dark arts will flourish. The super moon is around 14 per cent larger than the usual and appears 30 per cent brighter to earthlings. There have been ridiculous conspiracy theories that the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake, 2004 Tsunami, New Zealand Earthquake of 2016 are linked to the super moon, which occurred two weeks from the events, but there is no scientific proof to support them.
At best, tidal waves would be stronger and venturing into the ocean for fishing ought to be done with caution.
The lunar eclipse occurs when the earth gets in the way of sun’s light reaching the moon, thereby rendering it dark. Two to four times every year, some part of the moon gets caught on earth’s path, resulting in a lunar eclipse. It happens during the full moon. Penumbral eclipses happen more often, but they are not visible to human eye for the moon receives partial light.
The umbral eclipse — the one we will witness today — appears when the earth completely covers the moon; it could be partial or full. We miss 35 percent of the eclipses on account of their being penumbral. The moon appears to be red during a total eclipse thanks to the filtering and refraction by the earth’s atmosphere. On an average, zero to three lunar eclipses happen a year.
Today, on January 31, we will be the fortunate few who will get to experience the above three events coming together after 150 years — resulting in the super blue blood moon.
The moon we see today will be a giant red ball as opposed to the everyday moon. We can start seeing the partial shadow of the moon at 4.21pm, the eclipse will take over at 6.21pm and the super blue blood moon will emerge at 7.37pm, according to Jayant Ganguli, an officer at Regional Science Centre and Planetarium in Kozhikode.
Leaving superstitions aside, it's time to enjoy a celestial event that our grandparents were perhaps scared of as children. Chain up if you are a werewolf, for it will be next to impossible to control you!