At around 4:45 in the morning this past Saturday, my mom woke me up excitedly and pulled me out of bed to go see the lunar eclipse. I begrudgingly followed her out the door of our suburban home still half-asleep. But the sight of the blood red full moon jolted me right awake.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, the earth, and the moon are aligned straight in that order. The earth blocks all sunlight from directly hitting the moon, yet it remains visible to people on Earth due to the atmosphere’s refraction of the sunlight that hits the moon’s surface indirectly. This process inhibits certain wavelengths of light, causing the moon itself to appear red in color.
Lasting only 4 minutes and 43 seconds, this lunar eclipse is the shortest on record since the 16th century. Lunar eclipses normally last around an hour, with the longest on record being roughly 100 minutes. Short, minute-long lunar eclipses such as this one are quite rare; this is the sixth eclipse under five minutes since 2000 BC. The next one like this will not occur until the year 2155!
In other words, if you missed last week’s eclipse, chances are you won’t live to see another one like it. To make it up to you, here are some pictures people captured of the event from around the country.
Denver, CO – Photo by Erik Stensland Fine Art Photography
Seattle, WA – Photo by Tim Durkan Photography
San Clemente, CA – ABC7 Eyewitness News