Stargazers Witness “Blood Moon” During Lunar Eclipse

Early risers in Kenya were treated to a lunar eclipse early Friday morning.

While most of Kenya experienced a partial eclipse, with only a portion of the Moon covered by the Earth’s shadow, some western areas, along with the Americas and parts of the Pacific, observed a total lunar eclipse. This was the first total lunar eclipse since May 2022, when the Moon appeared completely red.

The eclipse created a striking “blood Moon” effect as the Moon moved into the Earth’s shadow, gradually darkening before taking on a dusky red hue.

Stargazers around the world followed the beginning of the lunar event, which started at 05:09 GMT, through a livestream hosted by the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes directly between the Sun and the Moon, blocking sunlight and casting a shadow on the Moon’s surface.

A lunar eclipse happens when the Moon travels through the outer part of Earth’s shadow, known as the penumbra. A total lunar eclipse happens when the Earth blocks the light from the Sun reaching the Moon, which means the Sun, Earth, and Moon must be in a straight line.

The red color seen during a “blood Moon” is due to a process called “Rayleigh scattering,” the same phenomenon that makes the sky blue and sunsets red. When sunlight passes through Earth’s atmosphere to reach the Moon, the atmosphere scatters shorter blue wavelengths of light, leaving the longer red wavelengths visible.

Astronomer Jake Foster from the Royal Observatory Greenwich explained, “Red light is mostly unaffected by the gases of the atmosphere, so it travels all the way through them and out the other side where it can shine on the Moon, making it appear red.”

The next total lunar eclipse is scheduled for the start of September but will be best visible over central and east Asia, with only some parts of Kenya able to see the full effect.