Blue Moon, Red Moon, Super Moon, enough hype, let’s just all look at OUR moon:)
Total Eclipse, January 31 2018-yes, the moon here is actually a reddish colour;)
So, we were all bombarded with the media hype about the eclipse, the blue moon, the red moon, the friggin’ super moon, geez, enough of all the hype and crap! Are we as a populous so blasé and laissez-faire that we need to ignore this event and not go out and look at one of Mother Natures amazing sights ( it’s free, no charge, how often does that happen)…and if that is the case, wow, humanity, you are doomed…wake up folks! It is about our WORLD, an astounding place that so many people do not stop and even think about as they go about their daily lives, replenished by the air we breathe and the fresh water we drink, the less than healthy”comida chattara” or fast food you eat…are so many so asleep. I dare not even try to answer that question…
Moonrise in the Sierra de San Pedro Martir-breath in that air!
So, a few rules here, if you have not watched Neil de Grasse Tyson rant about this, I’ll cover it again…Super Moon…if you have two pizzas on a table, one is 16″ and one is 17″, do you call the 17″ pizza a SUPER pizza, or is it just a slightly larger pizza, correct answer, it is just a slightly larger pizza, you would not be able to tell the difference in the sky between the two if your life depended on it, especially if I am having to explain this to you…read, be informed:) This particular full moon is closer to the Earth in its orbit, known as perigee. Since the lunar orbit around the Earth is elliptical there are times when full moon coincides with its nearest position to Earth….science 101…
Blue Moon, enough, leave that to Billie Holiday to sing about in her stupendous way, it IS NOT blue for the millionth time;) It is simply the 2nd full moon that happens in the same month. Since the 2nd of January was a full moon and the next was the 31st of January, the 2nd full moon of any month is known as the ‘Blue moon’. It’s nothing to do with Blue color…OK, got it!
Red Moon-Ok, here we do have a red moon, or blood moon, are we still cavemen? The reason why the “Blood Moon” takes on a reddish colour during totality of an eclipse is due to a phenomenon called “Rayleigh” scattering. The Blood Moon turns red because of the way the moon is illuminated by sunlight which has been filtered and refracted by the earth’s atmosphere as it lines up during a total lunar eclipse…OK, that is settled…
So, did you actually get your lazy ass up out of bed and go watch it? I’m sure some of you have circumstances in your life that did not allow you to get up and look out a window, maybe you were in prison, or trapped in a well, where is Lassie when we need her, or maybe it was cloudy, or not visible from where you are located, I’m truly sorry if that was the case for you, then disregard my rant.) We live in a world dominated by our little devices, some relied on the pictures they saw there but they did not “experience” it, the darkening of the sky, the drop in temperature, the light slowly fading as a red hue overtook the moon, that is what it is all about, experiencing it, not just reading about it…
These guys are up early:)
Next eclipse in North America…check out the link and try to experience this amazing phenomenon:) we only live once and it is a fleeting amount of time:)
Saludos amigos-get out there and try to breathe in some fresh night air and enjoy a sunrise or two:)
Sunrise Ensenada-Baja California
Thanks for the Education!