(Dr Vanessa Moss) So, hi everyone.
My name is Dr Vanessa Moss and I’m an astronomer with CSIRO.
I am here today to talk to you a little bit about
the super blood moon.
Before I get into that I wanted to say a little bit about what I do.
So, I work with CSIRO’s radio telescopes
in the astronomy part of CSIRO.
[Indistinct 0:22].
I, one of my main roles is to make sure that the telescopes
function well and that they help us deliver the best science
and continue to explore the universe.
I love science.
I’m really excited about all of the things we can learn
about the universe by studying it and understanding it.
So, I hope to share a little bit of that with you today.
Yeah, so let’s get back to the supermoon
and the lunar eclipse that’s coming up this Wednesday.
So, this evening on Wednesday we are going to see a
rare astronomical phenomenon.
So, it’s a combination of what we call a supermoon,
which you’ve probably heard a little bit about recently.
So, this is where the full moon happens at the same time roughly
as the Moon’s closest point in its orbit to Earth.
So, you know the Moon orbits around the Earth and
if a full moon happens to align at the same time
as the, as this closest point we call that a supermoon.
And also at the same time we have a total lunar eclipse
which is actually rarer and really exciting.
So, this is when, so the Moon’s orbit is a little bit inclined
compared to Earth, so when the Moon is going around the Earth,
if it happens to fall into the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow,
the umbra, then we get a total lunar eclipse which is really exciting.
And so, one of the greatest things about this upcoming
super blood moon, as you may have heard it called,
is that it will, you’re going to have a really great
view of it from Australia.
So, Australia is right in the middle of the eclipse zone
and so I’m here to answer your questions that you've sent to us
about what this means and how it works.
So, stay tuned and let’s get into it.
So, the first question, so a few people were really keen to know
what date and time this would happen.
So, I’ll talk a little bit first about Sydney time
which is where I am.
So, in Australian Eastern Standard Time, the totality,
so the full total lunar eclipse will happen between
9.11pm and 9.25pm and that’s on Wednesday evening.
In, so that’s about 14 minutes.
It’s quite short for a total lunar eclipse
and it’s not going to be visible everywhere in the world.
So, if you think about it because the Moon has to be in Earth’s shadow
only the night side of the Earth is going to be able to see this eclipse.
So, about half the Earth will be able to see, a little bit more than half
because the Earth rotates during it as well.
So, you may be wondering how rare
the supermoon lunar eclipse combo really is.
You know, so I said a supermoon happens occasionally.
A total lunar eclipse happens occasionally.
I did the statistics of how, you know, when the last time
we saw this in Australia.
So, the last time, by the definition of full moon on the perigee
was January 10th, 2001 and the next time is October 8, 2033.
So, they’re pretty rare by this, by this definition
and it’s definitely worth checking out tomorrow.
So, take some time to go outside and look up at the sky.
So, a question that was asked by Buck Barry is,
is “How long with the Moon be red?”.
And so the Moon will be most red during that total eclipse,
so the 14 minute period.
That’s when it’s, it’s in the umbra, so that’s the most red.
But either side of that while it’s entering the umbra
and coming out again it will actually be partially red as well.
So, the best time is really that 9.11pm to 9.25pm
Sydney time period but either side is also good.
So, there’s also a question about, from Nick McMalcolm
about why the supermoon is reddish in colour.
That’s a really great question and it’s a really cool answer.
So, actually it’s refracted sunlight through the Earth’s atmosphere.
So, you know, the Earth’s shadow,
it’s the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow but because we have
an atmosphere that bends light, so the light comes from the Sun,
goes through our atmosphere, bends a little bit towards
the Moon and makes it to the surface.
So, the reason it’s red is the same reason that we have
sunsets and sunrises that are red, is because
the blue light scatters the most.
Like, so normal light from the Sun is all the different colours,
it’s a rainbow, but the blue light is at the short wave length
and that scatters more and goes away.
The red wave lengths survive and so the red wave lengths
are what make it all the way to the Moon’s surface.
So, when you look at that red Moon tomorrow night hopefully,
you can think about, “Well actually we’re seeing sunrises and sunsets
from the Earth on that surface which is pretty cool”.
So, that’s why they’re red.
So, and a few people are interested in where will it best be visible
and how to look at it.
So, the Moon’s actually going to be rising in the eastern part
of the sky across Australia.
So, you know, basically you want to have a view towards the east,
the eastern horizon.
In Sydney, or on the east coast of Australia, it will start
at about 30 degrees.
So, it’ll actually be above the horizon at the time of the start
which is great and then it’ll go up to about 70 degrees.
So, just making sure you have that view to the east.
But for example in Perth the Moon will actually be
like below the horizon at the very start of the eclipse,
which is at 6, in, well it’s like earlier than that, not 14 minutes,
and so, yeah just having a direction to the east would be really good.
Lunar eclipses you need to be somewhere dark.
So, because there’s not a lot of light involved
we’re actually looking at the Moon inside the Earth’s shadow.
So somewhere dark where you can have a really good view,
away from light pollution would be great as well.
So, Dill... Gill… I hope I’m pronouncing that right,
asked if east or west of Sydney is best.
It really doesn’t matter where you are, even in Australia,
as long as you do have that view towards the east,
so east horizon going upwards.
So yeah avoid trees in the east or something.
And the other thing to note, so yeah OK clouds,
you know a couple of people mention clouds.
There’s always the weather component.
So, if it’s a bit patchy clouds you may have to look for gaps
in the clouds.
But otherwise there’s also, you know, say the weather’s really
not your friend tomorrow night, oh sorry, yeah tomorrow night,
I’m losing track of what day it is, tomorrow night,
then there’s also going to be livestreams.
So, one of the livestreams, CSIRO has, it operates a station
for the European Space Agency, New Norcia,
they’re actually going to be doing a livestream of the eclipse
from there and so, yeah, so that’s pretty exciting
and that’s another way you can do if the weather
is really bad in your location.
So, a few people were interested in what time in each state
it would best be seen.
So, as I mentioned before it’s 9.11pm to 9.25pm on the East Coast.
So, in Australian Eastern Standard Time.
And that timing is the same no matter where you are.
It’s just scaled for your local time zone.
And so, that’s the totality as I mentioned earlier
is actually so the, there’s the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow
and there’s a slightly lighter part which is the penumbra.
So, the penumbra, as it goes into that lighter part,
that’s starts really, a little bit earlier, so a little bit before 7pm.
So like 6.47pm Sydney time and goes all the way until 11.50pm.
So, that’s the Moon passing into the penumbra and then the umbra,
and then out again.
So that's, it’s a whole process, you can make a whole evening
of this is you want to.
Like, you know, get some warm clothes on, sit outside, drink some cocoa
or something, that’s something you can do.
And so for the other states, so in the middle of Australia,
so say if you’re Adelaide time that’s half an hour earlier.
So, 6.19pm to 11.19pm also.
On the west coast of Australia it’s 5.16pm to 9.49pm
and that’s because, like I said, it’s not,
it’s not above the horizon at the time.
So, you actually miss a little bit of the start of the eclipse.
So, the other thing to note is that you can actually search
your location.
So, if you’re in a specific city, or longitude, latitude,
you can just type into a search engine, you know,
“Lunar eclipse location”.
And often what will come out like is, you know, the time and date result
or something and you can actually fine tune it to your exact location
with the exact times for you.
So, I’d recommend to do that just if you’re a little bit unsure about
what time it will be in your specific place.
So, there was an interesting question from Ferri Maddy,
so this was, “Is it a myth that the moon phases affect kid’s behaviour?”.
I actually had to look this one up because I didn’t know much about this
and so the most kind of well-known study that was recent
that I could find was Chaput in 2016 and they did a study.
They were really trying to pin this down.
So, they studied 5,800 kids all around the world, different continents,
different countries, and were looking for patterns in sleep
as well as general activity, and trying to correlate that
with phases of the Moon, which is a really interesting thing to do
and it would be really hard with 5,800 kids that you have to get data from.
And so, what they found in this study is pretty much nothing.
So, there was no, you know, statistically significant pattern.
The only thing they found was that maybe five minutes less
on average during the full moon.
So, there was like a little bit of a decrease in sleep time for kids
during the full moon around the world but, you know,
five minutes is a pretty small number.
So, I think based on the current studies and the current evidence,
like, you know, that study, there’s not really any evidence
right now so it would technically be a myth but science
is one of those great things where, you know, we can always come at it
and with more evidence we can ask the question
in a different way and see.
So, I think it will be interesting to see what future studies come out
but right now it’s considered to be a myth.
I thought I’d also note on this point that actually
we know that animal activity though do vary based on moon phases.
So, for example during a full moon, because it’s brighter,
a lot of prey animals tend to hide because they’re much more exposed,
like nocturnal prey animals.
So, that can change also the behaviour of the predator animals
because on a full moon they can’t necessarily hunt them.
There’s also studies showing that coral is super active during
full moons because it, like, it triggers a light sensitive gene.
So, we actually know that animals have adapted in some ways
to the moon phases and so that’s something to check out
if you’re interested to learn more about that.
And another question was from Kirsty McCosker.
So, she asked, “Is it OK to look at directly?”.
And so that’s a great question and it’s always, you know,
safety is really important in these kinds of events,
especially where the Sun is involved.
In this case a lunar eclipse is totally safe to look at directly.
That’s because we’re not looking at the Sun directly,
we’re looking at either the reflections
or the refractions of the light
and so it’s not as, you know, it’s not as intense
power coming into your eyes.
So, the other thing is, you know, if you do have binoculars
or a telescope available, you can get those out
and have a look at the surface of the Moon, it’s totally safe to do that.
Obviously, the lunar eclipses and solar eclipses can sometimes
get thrown around.
In this case the Moon is in the Earth’s shadow.
In a solar eclipse, the, we’re in the Moon’s shadow.
So, the Moon is blocking the Sun.
That’s where it is super dangerous because, you know,
if you, if the Moon doesn’t block it quite right then the Sun comes in
and if you’re looking through a telescope
that is really, really bad for your eyes.
So, any time you’re thinking solar eclipse,
or looking directly at the Sun, don’t do it.
You have to use special filters, like solar eclipse glasses
or something to do that safely.
So, don’t look directly at the Sun is my guidance.
But luckily in this lunar eclipse the Sun will be below the horizon
and we will just be focussing on the Moon.
And so that’s everything from me today.
We’ll be sending out more information on CSIRO social media channels.
So, if you want to learn more, check out the channels.
Also, check out the links in the bio for more information
on the total lunar eclipse, the supermoon,
and also what we do with radio telescopes
and astronomy as part of CSIRO.
Yeah, so thank you very much for joining.
It was really nice to be with you today
and I hope you enjoyed the session.
See you later.