Have you ever glanced up at the night sky and noticed the Moon changing its look? One night it’s glowing bright white, and the next, it’s rocking a dramatic red or cozy orange hue. What up Moon?
Turns out there might be an explanation for that:
Red Moon (aka Blood Moon)
The Blood Moon sounds pretty intense, right? But really, it’s just a total lunar eclipse flexing its stuff. So this is what happens, when Earth slides perfectly between the Sun and the Moon, it blocks direct sunlight from reaching the Moon. So instead of the Moon going completely dark, Earth’s atmosphere scatters the blue light and lets only the red wavelengths pass through. These red rays wrap around Earth and bathe the Moon in a reddish glow, giving it that eerie, yet fascinating-Blood Moon look.
Blue Moon
Then there is “Blue Moon.” Despite the name, the Moon doesn’t actually turn blue. A Blue Moon is simply the second full moon in a calendar month-kind of a rare occurrence, which is where the staying comes from, “Once in a blue moon.”
But, in super rare cases, the Moon can appear bluish if there’s a lot of volcanic ash or wildfire smoke in the atmosphere. These particles scatter red light, allowing the Moon to take on a bluish tint. It’s…
