Hey there! Have you ever heard of a lunar eclipse? It’s a super cool event that happens in the sky, and I’m excited to tell you all about it. Imagine looking up at the Moon and seeing it turn a reddish-orange color. Sounds amazing, right? Let’s dive into why this happens!
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth gets between the Sun and the Moon. Normally, the Moon shines bright because it reflects the Sun’s light. But during a lunar eclipse, the Earth casts a shadow on the Moon, making it look like it’s disappearing. This shadow is why the Moon changes color!
Here’s the fun part! When the Moon is in Earth’s shadow, it doesn’t go completely dark. Instead, it turns a reddish-orange color. This happens because of the Earth’s atmosphere. You know how the sky looks blue during the day and sometimes reddish-orange during sunrise or sunset? That’s because of the way sunlight bends and scatters in the atmosphere.
During a lunar eclipse, the reddish-orange light from all the sunrises and sunsets on Earth bends around the planet and hits the Moon. This is why the Moon looks like a “blood moon.” It’s like the Moon is wearing a sunset-colored coat!
Watching a lunar eclipse is easy and safe. You don’t need a telescope or special glasses. Just find a comfy spot outside and look up at the sky. The exact time you can see the eclipse depends on where you live, so you might need to stay up a bit late. But it’s totally worth it!
If you miss this one, don’t worry. There will be more lunar eclipses in the future. Just keep an eye on the sky and stay curious!
Did you know that no one has ever been on the Moon during a lunar eclipse? If someone were there, they would see a ring of reddish-orange light around the Earth. How cool is that?
Thanks for joining me on this lunar adventure. Remember, there are always mysteries in the sky waiting to be discovered. Keep exploring and stay curious!
Make Your Own Eclipse Model: Gather a flashlight, a small ball (like a tennis ball), and a larger ball (like a basketball). In a dark room, use the flashlight to represent the Sun, the larger ball as Earth, and the smaller ball as the Moon. Shine the flashlight on the larger ball and position the smaller ball so that it moves into the shadow of the larger ball. Watch how the shadow changes on the smaller ball. Can you see how the Moon might look during a lunar eclipse?
Sunset Colors Experiment: Fill a clear glass with water and add a few drops of milk. Shine a flashlight through the side of the glass. Observe how the light changes color as it passes through the water. This is similar to how sunlight bends and scatters in Earth’s atmosphere during a lunar eclipse, making the Moon appear reddish-orange. Try adding more milk and see how the colors change!
Observation Journal: Start a sky-watching journal. On clear nights, observe the Moon and draw what you see. Note any changes in its shape or color. If you get a chance to see a lunar eclipse, describe what happens and how the Moon looks. This will help you notice patterns and changes in the sky over time.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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(phone ringing) – Hi, it’s Doug. This might not look like it, but believe it or not, this is a telescope. If it looks unusual, that’s probably because I made it. A few years ago, a friend of mine helped me build it, and the views through it are pretty good. I can see the moons of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn, and even craters on the Moon. I’ve got it out and ready because I’m looking forward to a lunar eclipse happening soon. Someone named Travis has a question about eclipses. Let’s give him a call now. (phone ringing) – Hi Doug! – Hi Travis. – I have a question for you. Why is the Moon so red during a lunar eclipse? – That’s a great question. On the evening of Sunday, January 20th, there will be a full moon in the sky. Now, that’s not unusual; a full moon happens once a month. But if you live in North or South America, on January 20th, something interesting will start to happen. Over just a few hours, the full moon will look like it’s starting to disappear. What is going on here? When this happens, it’s known as a lunar eclipse. The reason this occurs is pretty simple to understand. You might know that in outer space, the Moon moves in a circular pathway around the Earth. But what you might not know is that the light from the Sun causes the Earth to cast a shadow into space. Outer space is dark, so we normally can’t see the shadow. But sometimes, when the Moon is in a certain part of its pathway, it goes into the Earth’s shadow. That’s when we really notice it. The Earth’s shadow blocks the light from the Sun, and so the Moon starts to go dark. It starts to look like it’s disappearing. But I’ve saved the best part for last. Watch and see for yourself. Notice how the Moon turns a reddish-orange color? This is why some people call a lunar eclipse the “blood moon,” since the color reminds some people of blood. If you only go outside to look once on Sunday evening, I recommend seeing the Moon when it’s like this. You don’t need a telescope or any special glasses. The lunar eclipse will be easy to find in the sky, and it’s safe to look at. The exact time this happens depends on where you live. If you live in the eastern part of North America, the Moon won’t become a blood moon until around 11:30 PM, so you might have to stay up late. The next lunar eclipse visible from North America won’t happen until 2022, so try to watch it if you can. Hopefully, you won’t have cloudy skies that night. Now, if you’re wondering, like Travis, why does the Moon turn red during a lunar eclipse? To answer this question is a bit tricky. If you’re not up for it, that’s okay; you can skip straight to the end now. If you are up for it, I’ll show you some visuals to help you understand. But before I say anything more, now would be a good time to discuss: Why do you think the Moon turns red during a lunar eclipse? Okay, you ready? So why does the Moon turn reddish-orange during a lunar eclipse? The clue to figuring this out is actually not to think about the Moon, but instead, think about the Earth. Picture the Earth in space. When you think of the Earth, we often imagine the whole Earth lit up. But let’s imagine that over here you’ve got the Sun. If we were to look at the Earth and Sun from the side, then only half the Earth would be lit up. This makes sense because this is the side of the Earth facing the Sun, having daytime, and over here is the side facing away from the Sun, having nighttime. So there’s daytime and nighttime. But there’s something important to add to this picture: the sky. During the day, what color is the sky? On a clear, sunny day, it’s light blue. So, I’ll add a layer of light blue to represent the daytime sky. And what about nighttime? The nighttime sky is maybe black or dark blue, so I’ll represent that here. What we’ve just added is the Earth’s atmosphere, the layer of air around us. It doesn’t really look like this from space; the atmosphere is not actually this large or noticeable, but I’ve drawn it to help us imagine it. Here’s a question for you: Is the sky always blue? Do you ever see other colors? You might think about how the sky looks around sunset. It turns reddish-orange. That’s also true around sunrise. So we need to add a reddish-orange color to the picture, but where should we put it? This is a little tricky, but think about it. Sunrise and sunset come right between daytime and nighttime, so let’s add it in the middle. Now you have some important clues to figure out why the Moon looks red during a lunar eclipse. Let’s zoom out and add the Moon to our picture. Remember, the Sun’s light causes the Earth to cast a shadow into space. During a lunar eclipse, the Moon travels directly behind the Earth into the Earth’s shadow. Imagine if you could stand on the Moon during this. What would you see? No one has ever been on the Moon during a lunar eclipse, so I don’t have a photograph to show you. But given what you know, you can take a guess. For one thing, you’d be in the Earth’s shadow, looking up at the nighttime side of the Earth. We would need to color the Earth dark to represent nighttime. There’s something important we can add here: think about that reddish-orange band of light from all the sunrises and sunsets happening at that moment. If you were directly behind the Earth in the shadow during a lunar eclipse, that band of light might look like this: a ring of reddish-orange light surrounding the Earth. That light would shine on the surface of the Moon around you. Imagine what that would look like. The Moon’s surface, which normally looks white, would have reddish-orange light shining on it. That’s why the Moon looks reddish-orange during a lunar eclipse: it’s the reddish-orange light from all the sunrises and sunsets happening on Earth at that moment. That’s all for this week’s question. Thanks, Travis, for asking it. Now, for the next episode, I reached into my question jar and chose three questions submitted to me that I’m thinking about answering. When this video is done playing, you’ll get to vote on one. You can choose from: Why do we get hiccups? How high can airplanes fly? Or, what are game dice made of? So submit your vote when the video is over. I want to hear from all of you watching. There are mysteries all around us. Stay curious, and see you next week.
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