First super blue blood moon Earth’s satellite turns red, Super Moon ,stargazers see ‘super blue blood moon’ across India ,II Many head home early, traffic thins out as beliefs eclipse scientific temper

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. - The moon put on a rare cosmic show Wednesday: a red blue moon, super big and super bright.
It’s the first time in 35 years a blue moon has synced up with a supermoon and a total lunar eclipse, or blood moon because of its red hue.
Hawaii and Alaska had the best seats, along with the Canadian Yukon, Australia and Asia. The western U.S. also had good viewing, along with Russia.
At the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, hundreds gathered on the lawn in the wee hours under clear skies. Traffic was backed up more than a mile around the observatory. Sky-gazers also lined the beach near the Santa Monica Pier, some snapping photos and others reclining in the sand, their faces turned upward.
John Cook joined fellow photography enthusiasts at the pier, using the ferris wheel and roller coaster for his foreground.
“It was incredible,” said Cook, a visual effects artist for films. Photographers also gathered at the Telegraph Hill neighbourhood of San Francisco, striving to get the famous Coit Tower in their moon shots.
In San Francisco’s Marina district, a crowd gathered to watch the super blue blood moon, as NASA calls it, set over the Golden Gate Bridge. Spectators got lucky: There were clear skies and no trace of the city’s famous fog.
“It’s very cinematic, the way the moon is changing colours and reflecting on the water,” said Clara Cambon, who arrived around 5:30 a.m. with her husband.
On the other side of the Pacific, where it was already nightfall, hundreds descended on the Tokyo Garden Terrace Kioicho complex, where telescopes and binoculars were plentiful. A TV monitor showed zoom-in views of the moon, and a university professor gave a run-down as the eclipse unfolded.
“It’s wonderful to be at this precious event and to have been able to see the moon looking so beautiful,” said Mayumi Kimura, a visitor.
The U.S. East Coast, Europe and most of South America and Africa were out of luck for the total eclipse. At Cape Canaveral, Florida, where a rocket delivered America’s first satellite to orbit exactly 60 years ago — Explorer 1 — the blue super moon loomed large in the sky.
The second full moon in a calendar month is a blue moon. This one also happened to be an especially close and bright moon, or supermoon. Add a total eclipse, known as a blood moon for its red tint, and it was a lunar showstopper.
NASA called it a lunar trifecta: the first super blue blood moon since 1982. That combination won’t happen again until 2037. For those looking ahead, the next supermoon is in February, the next blue moon is in March and the next total lunar eclipse is in July, according to NASA.
NASA lunar scientist Noah Petro said he was astonished — and thrilled — by all the attention and fuss. The total solar eclipse that swept across the U.S. in August contributed to Wednesday’s buzz, he noted. Missing out on the eclipse from his home in Virginia, he watched the event online Wednesday morning with his two children, ages 3 and 7.
“I hope that people use this as an opportunity to dig in a little more and learn about our own planet, our wonderful sister planet, the moon, and the sun and all the other great objects in the solar system,” Petro said on his way to work at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
A total lunar eclipse — considered the most scientific of Wednesday’s threesome — occurs when the sun, Earth and moon line up perfectly, casting Earth’s shadow on the moon.
Scientists were keen to study the sharp, sudden drop in temperature at the lunar surface as Earth’s shadow blankets the moon. During the more than one hour of totality, the temperature plunged 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), said Petro. He’s deputy project scientist for NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, circling the moon since 2009. His team took special precautions to keep the spacecraft warm during the eclipse.
For the trivia crowd, the moon was 223,820 miles (360,200 kilometres) away at the peak of the eclipse, close enough for supermoon status, according to NASA.

 

The moon passes into the earth’s shadow during a lunar eclipse as seen in Chandigarh on January 31.(Ravi Kumar/HT Photo)

 

The moon put on a rare cosmic show Wednesday: a red blue moon, super big and super bright.
The celestial treat became visible in India a little later than expected but when it did, millions of stargazers across the country gathered to witness the rare occurrence.
The moon outdid itself in donning three roles. Moon-gazers saw a super moon, when it looks bigger and brighter than ever because it is closer to the earth, a blue moon, which is the second full moon in a calendar month, and a blood moon, a reference to the red colour of an eclipse. The sighting of a blue moon and a total lunar eclipse last occurred in India in 1982.
Many organisations across the country stepped in to enhance the show which was also visible to the naked eye.
SPACE India, a start-up focused on astronomy education and astro-tourism services, organised several events at various locations across the country to observe the phenomenon from 6 p.m.-9.30 p.m.
SPACE India used the Dobsonian telescope at India Gate which gave a very clear and crisp view of the supermoon.
The instrument allowed skywatchers to view the moon 20 times bigger than it appears to the naked eye.
“Apart from Delhi, Space India organised the event in five other cities -- Chennai, Bengaluru, Surat, Dehradun and Meerut - and also at DAV school in Gurgaon. Over 500 people gathered at India Gate to watch this phenomenon,” Dr. Mila Mitra, Scientific Officer, Head, Research and Publications, told IANS.
Moon-gazers gathered in planetariums in Delhi, Pune, Kolkata and elsewhere for a guided observation of the rare treat.
At India Gate area, scores of students came together to have a look at the moon, which was initially covered by clouds. But the clouds lifted, and soon the red moon was visible to the naked eye.
In Mumbai, the Nehru Planetarium was visited by 2,500-3,000 people eager to know more about the celestial phenomena.
“I am glad about the number of people who visited us considering the superstitions behind eclipses,” said Arvind Paranjpye, director of the Nehru Planetarium, Mumbai. Among some communities, an eclipse is considered inauspicious.

Stargazers assemble to witness the ‘super blue blood moon’ in Lucknow. (HT Photo/Deepak Gupta)

 

In West Bengal, the eclipse started partially at 5:18 pm and the view was a bit obstructed due to smog in some parts of the city initially.
However as the total eclipse started at 6.21 pm, it could be seen by everybody from rooftops, street corners, highrise buildings and open field, said director (Research & Academics) M P Birla Planetarium, Debiprasad Duari.
The total eclipse ended at 7:37 PM. and slowly the full disc of the moon became brighter.
In Bengaluru, thousands of stargazers gathered at the Nehru Planetarium in the city and other open spaces to catch a glimpse of the celestial spectacle.
“This lunar eclipse is special because a Supermoon (when Moon appears larger than usual when its closest to Earth), blue Moon (second full Moon of each month) and blood Moon (Moon appears red during eclipse) will all coincide at once,” its director Pramod G Galgali said.
The planetarium in the city centre had hundreds of children, students and adults queuing up to view the once in a blue moon event clearly through telescopes and binoculars.
The Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bengaluru also set up few telescopes in open spaces for public viewing of the eclipse.
Several Hindu temples were shut across the state on Wednesday, with many devout Hindus staying away from eating till the end of lunar eclipse, as it is feared to be inauspicious.
Renowned Hindu worship places in Karnataka like Manjunatheshwara Temple in Dharmasthala, 300 km from Bengaluru and Krishna Mutt in Udupi, about 400 km from Bengaluru, were shut till the end of the eclipse at about 9.30 p.m.