Everyone loves a good lunar eclipse!
Especially people who think the moon is some kind of push notification telling us the end
of days is comin'.
UGH.
STOP IT.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Happy Friday!
Trace here with your DNews Weekly Space update.
The moon is our celestial partner, twirling around us as we zoom around our star.
It's a big hunk of rock, made of dust and minerals with craters pock-marking its surface.
It's a beauty, but it's NOT a harbinger of death and destruction.
Next Monday, we're going to have the first of four lunar eclipses over the next two years.
When they're grouped like this, astronomers call them a tetrad -- which means a set of
four.
Tetrads are four successive FULL eclipses with no partial eclipses in between.
Lunar eclipses are not as rare as you think, UniverseToday points out there were 81 in
the 20th century alone, with 5 tetrads!
The 21st is going to have 85 eclipses and 8 tetrads!
There hasn't been eight since the 9th century!
Get PUMPED.
A lot of those eclipses are partial eclipses, but a FULL lunar eclipse happens when the
moon passes through the shadow of the Earth.
It always happens during a full moon, because that's the only time we're between the sun
and the moon.
The Earth is kinda fat, but not SO big as to completely black out our astronomical BFF.
Instead, it gets a rusty color.
Why?
IS IT THE BLOOD MOON FROM REVELATION?
IS THE END NIGH?
LOL, REVELATION...
No.
It's not.
Where was I...
Right.
The moon's got red on it.
So, as the moon passes along the other side of the Earth, our shadow will block the light
from the sun.
It won't appear totally black, because the Earth is too far away and the sun is too bright.
When the sun's light hits our atmosphere, the colors of light are scattered by all those
little air molecules.
Because of its long wavelength, red light is scattered least, and so makes it through
our gas to hit the moon.
It's the same reason the moon appears orange when it's low in the sky, or sunsets are predominantly
orange by the horizon and blue and purple higher up.
The red light makes it through all those miles of atmosphere to get to your eyes, while blue
scatters much higher.
Think of this full lunar eclipse like one giant sunset!
Naming the moons is a tradition stretching back to ancient history.
Without electric lights the movement of the stars, planets and our moon was observable
by everyone; so stories were told to explain their movements.
A Blue Moon is two full moons in the same calendar month.
Harvest moons appear nearest the autumnal equinox, and the Hunter's Moon is the next
full moon after THAT.
Hunter's moons are also called the Blood Moon because it was a good time to shoot migratory
birds.
The internet has turned it into this crazy apocalyptic thing, but in reality, it's just
a beautiful sight for astronomers.
Want to add more pop cult sci fi to this?
Total lunar eclipses mean the Sun, Earth and Moon are in ALIGNMENT OoOOOOooo!
That's called a Syzygy.
It's a real word, and great for Scrabble.
Plus, as an added treat, Mars will be to the right of the moon too!
This eclipse on April 15th will be the first of the next two year tetrad.
If you're in Asia and Europe, sorry.
Womp womp.
But, if you're in North or South America we'll be able to see it without a telescope, though
if you have one -- get it out, bro!
It should be spectacular views.
The eclipse will start around midnight, Pacific time.
Have you ever seen an eclipse?
Are you going to see this one?!
Tell us about it down below, and subscribe for more DNews.
Speaking of down below...
birth controls are pretty common now, and standardized.
But before the pill people had NO IDEA WHAT THEY WERE DOING.
Some ladies were even stickin' lemons up there.
Citrusy fresh, sure, but not much good at contraception.
Want to know some other CRAZY ancient birth control methods?
Click here to watch this new show I'm helping out with called Anyhoo.
It's.
Awesome.
Really really good.
You don't even know.