Rare moon phenomenon – blue super moon turns red

Moon: Heiko Junge / NTB scanpix

A rare phenomenon occurred on Wednesday afternoon. At the same time that the moon was particularly close to earth (perigee), there was also a total eclipse of the moon.

 

Moon eclipse occurs when the sun, the earth and the moon are in line. Wednesday’s eclipse, however, is special as the moon was unusually close to the Earth, at only 360.172 kilometers away.

In addition, this was the second full moon within the same calendar month, which is referred to as a “blue moon”, astrophysicist Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard and science adviser Anne Mette Sannes write on the website astroevents.

A total eclipse of such a moon occurred last on March 31, 1866.

A special red glow occurs when the moon is darkened. In Norway, the phenomenon could only be seen in the north of the country this time of year.

The last time a super-moon eclipse took place was September 28, 2015. The next super-moon eclipse will occur in 2033, but will not be visible from Norway. Plus the moon will not be as close to earth as it was this year.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today