Copper Red Super Moon

An spectacular lunar eclipse will be taking place at moon rise on Wednesday, January 31. The total lunar eclipse of 31 January 2018 will occur during a “supermoon”, i.e., a full moon that coincides with perigee of the moon (the closest distance that the moon comes to earth during its orbit around the earth). The “super-moon” appears about 14% larger than a regular full moon. Another coincidence is that the full moon of 31 January is also talked of as a “blue moon” in the English media - a blue moon is said to occur when two full moons occur in the same calendar month. Also, this supermoon is the third in a trilogy of super moons, following those of 3 December 2017 and 1 January 2018.

 It will be visible in  Jammu and Kashmir between 6:20 pm up to 8 pm.   I am fascinated by moon since my childhood. When I was a youngster my father brought for me a popular science book in Urdu ‘Nau Saiyare Ektis Chand’. Through this book I came to know that moon is a non luminous body and it shines by reflecting the solar light. I was so upset by this fact that I hid the book lest others may know about the truth that moon does not have its own light. I was naïve like any other child of my age.

 A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes behind the Earth so that the Earth blocks the Sun's rays from striking the Moon. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, a lunar eclipse can only occur during the night of a full moon. It might be expected that during every full moon  the Earth's shadow will fall on the Moon, causing a lunar eclipse.  Lunar eclipses are not observed every month because the plane of the Moon's orbit around the Earth is tilted by about five degrees with respect to the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun. Thus, when a full moons occurs, the Moon usually lies to the north or south of a direct line through the Earth and Sun. Although a lunar eclipse can only occur when the Moon is  full, it must also be positioned very near the intersection of Earth's orbital plane about the Sun and the Moon's orbital plane about the Earth that is, at one of its nodes.

The shadow of the Earth can be divided into two distinctive parts: the umbra and penumbra. Within the umbra, there is no direct solar radiation. Due to the Sun’s large angular size, solar light is only partially blocked in the outer portion of the Earth’s shadow or penumbra. A penumbral eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through the Earth’s penumbra. A partial lunar eclipse occurs when only a portion of the Moon enters the umbra. When the Moon travels completely into the Earth’s umbra, one observes a total lunar eclipse.

Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a certain relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of the Earth. A lunar eclipse lasts for a few hours, whereas a total solar eclipse lasts for only a few minutes at any given place, due to the smaller size of the moon's shadow.

Since moon is a non luminous body, lunar eclipses (unlike Solar Eclipses) are completely safe to observe with the naked eye - no special equipment or filters are needed. Sometimes a Total Lunar Eclipse is best viewed without any optical aid, and just lying under the stars watching the change as the Moon first gets slightly darker (penumbral phase), then starts to get eaten away (partial phase), finally turning deep red or copper coloured as it enters totality. During a total lunar eclipse, the sun’s direct light is blocked by the earth and does not reach the moon. A small amount of the sunlight that passes through earth’s atmosphere, however, is refracted or “bent” towards the moon by the atmosphere and is reflected towards us on earth by the moon. Particles in the atmosphere also preferentially scatter away the bluer light of shorter wavelengths and only the redder light that has relatively longer wavelengths gets through, similar to the sunlight we see at sunset and sunrise. This redder light reaches the moon because of the bending (refraction). Therefore the moon appears copper-coloured during a total lunar eclipse. The exact colour will depend on the nature and quantity of the dust particles, water droplets and aerosols present in the earth’s atmosphere at that time. Hence it is an indicator of earths atmospheric pollution!

The eclipse is a unique opportunity to admire and celebrate the beauty and inspiration of this celestial experience. It is also preferable to offer two rak’aat Salate Khusoof.