Lunar eclipse: this is how the spectacular ‘blood moon’ has been experienced live

Moon has completely eclipsed again this morning, an astronomical phenomenon that has been visible in the Canary Islands and in much of the world (in most of Europe, Africa and America), although the clouds have made it difficult to contemplate in many places.

At 2:28 GMT this morning (4:28 a.m. on the Peninsula), the Earth’s shadow began to overshadow the Moon and an hour later (at 3:29 GMT) the total eclipse began, which lasted until 4:54 GMT in the morning, and at 5:55 am (7:55 am on the Peninsula) the satellite will recover all its splendor after one of the longest eclipses in recent decades.

The predictions of the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) indicated that at that time clouds would occupy a large part of the sky in many places on the Peninsula and in the Balearic archipelago, but that the sky would be a perfect ally to contemplate the eclipse in the Canary archipelago.

There, the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands and several supercomputing centers have planned events to be able to follow the eclipse live and have also collaborated in the distribution of the broadcast that the sky-live.tv portal will do live from the different observatories de Canarias, a broadcast that began hours before with the projection of Teide’s shadow during sunset and moonrise from the Tenerife observatory.

In the peninsular northwest and in the Balearic Islands, the Moon has hidden over the horizon before the total eclipse ended, so it has only been possible to see the beginning of that phase, but in the rest of the Peninsula, in Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands have witnessed the entire total phase.

During the time that the total eclipse lasted, the Moon it hasn’t been totally dark but has acquired a reddish tone because some of the sunlight will be deflected by the Earth’s atmosphere. Unlike solar eclipses, the observation of a lunar eclipse can be done with the naked eye, because it does not require special instrumentation to contemplate it, nor does it entail any danger.

Although it is the only star to which a manned mission has reached, the Moon still hides many secrets, and among them why are the visible face and the hidden face so different; unknowns and challenges that have reactivated the interest of several space agencies to return to the satellite and to scrutinize mysteries about its formation and its history.

And total eclipses are an opportunity for scientists to deepen their knowledge of the Earth’s satellite and try to better understand the complex events that took place during the formation of the Solar System, or to determine some fundamental parameters, such as the diameter of the Moon or the exact distance to which it is located.

Precisely, the reddish color that it acquires during the phase of totality makes it possible to measure properties of the Earth’s atmosphere, and the lower brightness of the Moon -despite being in full phase- facilitates the measurements that are made by bouncing a laser beam off the surface of the Moon and allows us to measure the time it takes for light to return to Earth.

An astronomical phenomenon like the one of the next morning will be repeated in some regions of the world next november 8but in Spain a similar event will not take place until May 14, 2025.