Those who looked at the sky on Thursday evening had the opportunity to seize On March 2025 “Blood Moon”, A phenomenon that colors the full moon in tones of red, orange and yellow during a total lunar eclipse.
This month full moon was to cross the shadow of the earth Thursday evening or very early Friday morning, according to the time zone of the spectator. It was visible for people in the Americas and elsewhere in the Western hemisphere.
Nicknamed the “Green moon“By the farmer’s Almanac, which has attributed names to complete moons for almost a century, it should last until Saturday morning, according to Nasa. The full moon technically increased in its entirety early on Friday.
Here’s what you need to know about the event – and why the moon has shown a new shade when it happened.
Why was the moon red, orange and yellow?
The moon seemed to become red while the earth passed directly between it and the sun in what is known as a total lunar eclipse. Their perfect alignment darkens the moon, from the point of view of people who look, because the position of our planet prevents sunlight from reaching it.
A light always makes its way to the surface of the moon, but only certain shades of it. The colors that are found there are longer wavelengths of light – red, orange, yellow – which resists the trip through “a thick slice of atmosphere of the earth,” said NASA.
NASA scientific visualization studio
Shorter wavelengths of the color spectrum, like blue, easily disperse when they hit the atmosphere. This is why a vast sky can look blue in the middle of the day, when sunlight can shine directly with the head. Longer wavelengths materialize on earth when sunlight strikes from a more perpendicular angle, so that its route through our atmosphere can be more extensive. Short wavelengths are essentially filtered by the atmosphere over such a prolonged distance, and there are only reds, oranges and longer yolks.
What is a “blood moon”?
“Blood Moon” is a nickname that refers to the reddish appearance of the moon during a total lunar eclipse.
The full moon takes several shades of red, orange and yellow when it is closer to the outer edges of the shadow of the earth – when it first cuts the path of the shadow of the earth, for example, and as it is leaving. But the shades of dark red become more pronounced when the moon enters the darkest part of the shadows.
What exactly causes a “blood moon”?
A “blood moon” occurs during a total lunar eclipse, when the sun, the earth and the moon align in this order. Long wavelengths of sunlight are refracted through the atmosphere of the earth before reaching the moon, which reflects them in reddish shades which can resemble the color of the blood.
When was the lunar eclipse of the “blood moon”?
“Blood Moon” this week started late Thursday evening. The moon moved to the shadow of the earth during the night, with the best opportunity to see the Redden Moon around 3 am on Friday.