A lunar eclipse with a blood red moon will be visible to millions this January

Source: indianexpress

A lunar eclipse shall be seen by millions on 20th and 21st of January, with a blood red coloured moon. A lunar eclipse is a rare event itself, which we witness once every year. Hence, such an event with a beautiful blood red colour will be exciting to observe.

A lunar eclipse happens when the earth blocks the light from sun, preventing it to fall on the moon's surface totally. However, the orbit of moon is a bit tilted as compared to that of the earth's, and hence we are not able to watch such an event every month. A total lunar eclipse happens on a full moon day.

This event will be observed in midnight around 11:41 pm on 20th January and will last upto 12:16 am on 21st. But, only the people in the regions of North and South America, some parts of Western Europe and Africa will be able to see it.

Why the moon have blood red colour?

When a lunar eclipse ocuur, the moon is completely covered by earth blocking any light from sun. But sometimes, some portion of light is able to reach the moon, as it bends through the edges of earth. Due to this bending, only the light with longer wavelength is able to reach the moon, which is red, and hence we are able to see a blood red coloured moon. This event is somehow similar to the sunrise and sunset, when the sun appears reddish orange.

Source: indianexpress

How to observe? 

A very few portion of light falls on the surface of moon during such an event, and hence, it is almost 10,000 times dimmer than the usual moon. So, in order to observe it clearly, you must take care of a few things. First, you have to make sure that you keep yourself ready, half an hour before the event. Our eyes take time to adjust with darkness, and takes around 20 min or so in the process. So, you will have to keep your eyes in dark atleast half an hour earlier. Second, make sure that you are at such a place where there is almost absence of any other source of light, such as that in a city. In big cities or even small towns, the night sky doesn't appear clear due to heavy lighting. So make sure that you are at some outskirt places where the night sky appears clear, so that you can have a clear and distinct vision of this rare event.