Super Blood Moon: When to see the Supermoon total lunar eclipse

Updated
Super Blood Moon: When to see the Supermoon total lunar eclipse
Super Blood Moon: When to see the Supermoon total lunar eclipse



A rare Supermoon and total lunar eclipse (a rare mix dubbed 'Super Blood Moon') are set to wow the UK in the early hours of Monday morning (28 September).

It's the first time the event will happen in 32 years, and it won't occur again for another 18 years, in 2033.

The Supermoon and total lunar eclipse will occur at 3.47am BST on 28 September.

See also: Super blood moon and total eclipse forecast for September 2015

A total lunar eclipse (also called a Blood Moon) occurs when the Earth is between the full moon and the sun. The Earth's shadow covers the moon and the sun's light is refracted onto the moon's surface, which creates a red colour, giving rise to the 'Blood Moon' nickname.

According to USA Today, Alan MacRobert of Sky and Telescope magazine, said: "That red light shining onto the moon is sunlight that has skimmed and bent through Earth's atmosphere: that is, from all the sunrises and sunsets that ring the world at any given moment."

The Blood Moon coincides with a Supermoon for the first time in 32 years.

Only five total lunar eclipses have coincided with a Supermoon since 1900.

According to The Weather Network, there are typically six Supermoons every year. However, this particular full moon and total lunar eclipse are occurring at a more special time of the year than a 'normal' Supermoon. It is occurring during 2015's perigee full moon, which is the absolute closest full moon possible where it appears around 14 per cent larger than usual.

See also: Solar eclipse tourist mauled by polar bear

The scarcity of the event, and the fact the Blood Moon is the fourth in a series of rare events within an 18-month period which began last April, has got conspiracy theorists claiming it is a sign from God that then end of the world is coming, and Earth will be wiped out by an asteroid or earthquakes.

However, Nasa is assuring everyone that no such thing is about to happen.

According to the Express, Noah Petro, deputy project scientist for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland, said: "It's just planetary dynamics.

"The orbit of the moon around Earth is inclined to the axis of Earth and the orbital plane of all these things just falls into place every once in a while.

"When the rhythms line up, you might get three to four eclipses in a row or a Supermoon and an eclipse happening."



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Time Lapse: Blood Moon Eclipse
Time Lapse: Blood Moon Eclipse

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