Americans witness year’s first rare blood moon on lunar eclipse

The sky gazers in the North and South America experienced a rare celestial show when the Earth engulfed the Moon into its shadow between late Monday and early Tuesday (April 15). The celestial event lasted about 3.5 hours.

It was a rare sight as the Moon changed its colour from orange to blood red during the total lunar eclipse.

From 08:06 BST (07:06 GMT), Earth’s natural satellite was fully eclipsed for more than 75 minutes and shrouded in a reddish glow.

However, the lunar eclipse or the blood moon was a disappointment for many adventure lovers as this celestial treat was only witnessed in the Americas.

There will be four eclipses this year, two lunar and two solar, the scientists said. The phenomenon is known as a tetrad. In this phenomenon the moon is completely covered by the Earth’s umbral shadow for four eclipses in a row. The partial eclipses fall in the outer penumbra. The moon will glow red due to the refracted light that spills over the Earth’s circumference.

During the eclipse, the moon is covered by the Earth’s shadow. But it appears a bit colorful with some shade of red or orange. The colour of the moon during the eclipse is due to the light around the edges of the Earth.

The other three eclipses in 2014 are: an annular solar eclipse on 29 April, a total lunar eclipse on 8 October and a partial solar eclipse on 23 October.