On the night of September 28, the inhabitants of the Earth will see a rare astronomical phenomenon - a total lunar eclipse. Such eclipses occur during periods when the star is in the shadow of the planet Earth. On the territory of Russia, residents of the western regions will be able to watch a unique spectacle.
This year, the lunar eclipse will coincide in time with the so-called supermoon - the moment of the closest approach of the Moon and the Earth, during which the natural satellite of the Earth looks noticeably larger than the usual one and is about 30% brighter.
It is curious that the term "supermoon" has come into the use of both ordinary people and respectable scientists from … astrology. It was invented by the American astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979.
The people call the lunar eclipse "the bloody moon", because the luminary is painted in crimson tones for several hours. The reason for this phenomenon lies in the peculiarity of the Earth's atmosphere, called the Rayleigh scattering. The Earth's atmosphere is best at scattering light rays in the blue spectrum, but the rays of the red spectrum reach the moon in greater quantities and are reflected. Hence the characteristic red tint.
At the moment of the supermoon, when the Moon is 14 percent larger than the rest of the time, three dark plains can be seen with the naked eye in its upper part: the Sea of Rains, the Sea of Clarity and the Ocean of Storms.
In Moscow, it will be possible to observe a unique phenomenon only at night. The "bloody" moon will begin its ascent at 3 hours 11 minutes Moscow time, and will turn completely red only at 5 am.
The last time a supermoon and a lunar eclipse coincided in 1982. The next time such an event will occur only in 2033.
