Author Topic: Super blue blood moon...  (Read 2071 times)

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Super blue blood moon...
« on: 28 January, 2018, 10:35:16 am »
... won't be visible from the UK as the eclipsey bit starts at about 1.30pm our time.

For some unaccountable reason, blue moons always bring very wet overnight bike rides to mind.

We also have the curious phenomenon this year of two blue moons in 2 months apart as there is no full moon in February this year.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: Super blue blood moon...
« Reply #1 on: 28 January, 2018, 10:03:21 pm »
It’ll make a change from not being able to see astronomical happenings due to them being hidden behind clouds.
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Super blue blood moon...
« Reply #2 on: 29 January, 2018, 10:28:31 am »
To be honest, I wish the press would can it with "supermoons" and blue moons and "blood moons". It's just the bloody Moon and it's in an elliptical orbit slightly inclined to the ecliptic, nuff said.

This is "cool", though:

I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Super blue blood moon...
« Reply #3 on: 29 January, 2018, 05:39:09 pm »
To be honest, I wish the press would can it with "supermoons" and blue moons and "blood moons". It's just the bloody Moon and it's in an elliptical orbit slightly inclined to the ecliptic, nuff said.

This is "cool", though:



My David is of the same opinion and RANTS at all these epithets.

I used a Moon Phases font, which was mighty useful at one point. I loved it!

Martin

Re: Super blue blood moon...
« Reply #4 on: 31 January, 2018, 10:55:06 pm »
I thought it was pretty a-bloody-mazing tonight; I went up to the 12th floor at work to see it but typical the only windows I could see out of faced the wrong way.

As I was leaving at ground level it was above the rooftops, yellowy and bloody huuuuge! (actually I think it was fuller last night)

Ok it's bigger than usual, and blue, and red (not here; had to work that one out we were just too late in the UK)

but we all saw it which is not that common for these types of things given our usual cloud cover

at the other end of the scale, can someone please explain earthshine? you normally only see it just before sunset on a very new (or old?) moon. Is there such a thing as a night moon only illuminated by sunlight reflected from the earth? I know that would be a total solar eclipse but does earthshine happen all the time during a new moon and we only see it at dusk?

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Super blue blood moon...
« Reply #5 on: 31 January, 2018, 11:04:26 pm »
Diamond Geezer has an excellent blog today, as always...http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.co.uk

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
  • Help me!
Re: Super blue blood moon...
« Reply #6 on: 31 January, 2018, 11:14:04 pm »
Fer chrisake.  I am bored with explaining in the pub the meanings of 'super', 'blue' and 'blood'.
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Super blue blood moon...
« Reply #7 on: 31 January, 2018, 11:24:27 pm »
I only bothered to look it up earlier (to be fair, I remembered what 'super' meant from the last non-event).  I was disappointed to hear that it didn't mean a vampire/werewolf uprising, or even a particularly apocalyptic dunrun.

When did eclipses stop being exciting enough?  Fucksake.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Super blue blood moon...
« Reply #8 on: 31 January, 2018, 11:28:11 pm »
Eclipses are exciting. Lunar eclipses are not rare events.
This one was hyped too much and not visible from Europe.
IMHO

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: Super blue blood moon...
« Reply #9 on: 01 February, 2018, 07:45:59 am »
I saw the moon on the way to work this morning. It sort of hung there in the sky, like it usually does, and looked a bit bigger as it does twice a year. Not blue (well not bluer than usual) but then it’s February this morning so I wouldn't expect it to be. And of course not orange because it was hiding around the corner when the earth got in between it and the sun.
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Super blue blood moon...
« Reply #10 on: 01 February, 2018, 09:07:29 pm »
...

at the other end of the scale, can someone please explain earthshine? you normally only see it just before sunset on a very new (or old?) moon. Is there such a thing as a night moon only illuminated by sunlight reflected from the earth? I know that would be a total solar eclipse but does earthshine happen all the time during a new moon and we only see it at dusk?

You've got it right: you see it just after sunset on a new(ish) moon. If you were up early enough I expect you would also see it just before sunrise on an old(ish) moon as well. For work-related reasons, I suspect most people are generally too busy to look/notice at that end of the day. Or, like me, in bed.

You would not see earthshine reflected off the moon unless it is just above the western horizon (in the evening) just after sunset. That's because at that time, anyone on the moon would be able to see a "full earth": the whole illuminated hemisphere of the earth's surface is pointed towards the moon. That casts the most "earthshine" onto what is mostly the dark side of the moon. If the moon is high in the sky at night, the dark side o the earth would be pointed towards it so there would be no earthshine.

Summer full moons tend to be far less spectacular than winter ones. There's nothing magical about the phases of the moon - they are really not very interesting at all from a geometric/astronomic point of view (n.b. I am no astronomer). A full moon is simply the closest it gets in its 29-ish day cycle to being diametrically opposite the sun from the earth's point of view, so in the winter, when the sun disappears a very long way below the horizon, the full moon will be high in the sky and will look very bright. In the high summer, when the sun just creeps below the horizon but its influence, even in southern England can be seen all night long, the full moon must be correspondingly close to the horizon as well.

The Dunwich Dynamo ride is geared to be on the Saturday night nearest to the full moon in July. When it is very early in the month, ie less than a fortnight after the summer solstice, that full moon is the lowest in the sky of the entire year.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Super blue blood moon...
« Reply #11 on: 01 February, 2018, 11:23:21 pm »
Earthshine, shamelessly nicked from a Facebook friend.

Martin

Re: Super blue blood moon...
« Reply #12 on: 01 February, 2018, 11:44:01 pm »
...

at the other end of the scale, can someone please explain earthshine? you normally only see it just before sunset on a very new (or old?) moon. Is there such a thing as a night moon only illuminated by sunlight reflected from the earth? I know that would be a total solar eclipse but does earthshine happen all the time during a new moon and we only see it at dusk?

You've got it right: you see it just after sunset on a new(ish) moon. If you were up early enough I expect you would also see it just before sunrise on an old(ish) moon as well. For work-related reasons, I suspect most people are generally too busy to look/notice at that end of the day. Or, like me, in bed.

You would not see earthshine reflected off the moon unless it is just above the western horizon (in the evening) just after sunset. That's because at that time, anyone on the moon would be able to see a "full earth"

thanks Wow; although Shirley anyone on the moon wouldn't see much of Earth as the sun would be behind it?

there is so much that's not readily available about the moon / sun / Earth positions; our man Espeniak has at all though

https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html

BTW anyone want to make a diary date there's another total solar eclipse in 2024 visible from the Eastern US; you will not be disappointed! it was worth every penny of my trip to see it last year

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Super blue blood moon...
« Reply #13 on: 03 February, 2018, 02:33:06 pm »
No, the sun would be behind them if the moon is only a day or two (or less) either side of new.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.