A full moon is the brightest thing in the night sky.
Vancouver Islanders will have an exceptional opportunity to view it in a totally different light, during a total lunar eclipse this Sunday, Jan 20.
"What makes it really special is that people can see it and enjoy the whole experience," said Dr. Karun Thanjavur with the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Victoria.
You will be able to see the earth gradually cast a red glow across the face of the moon with your bare eyes, but UVic is offering a special opportunity to get a new perspective through telescopes.
"During the full moon itself, when the moon is bright you cannot even look at it through the telescope, its just so bright," said Thanjavur. "It won’t hurt your eyes but it would just be blinding, so once it gets into this total part you can actually look at the moon through the telescope and you will be able to see many of the features at that point. You’ll be able to see the craters very well."
It's an ideal opportunity because the entire spectacle will be visible Sunday evening instead of the middle of the night.
A lunar eclipse is the shadow of the earth falling on the face of the moon, and is sometimes referred to as a "Blood Moon" in part because of the reddish hue the moon takes on.
In ancient times, many cultures thought evil forces were turning the moon red.
According to Korean mythology fire dogs taking a bite of the sun or moon caused an eclipse, while Vietnamese lore held that a frog ate the moon.
While not as poetic, the scientific explanation isn’t entirely without romance.
With the sun directly behind the Earth, light is refracted or bent, blue light is scattered, leaving only red behind – just like during a sunrise or sunset.
This lunar eclipse will be visible right across North America. For a total lunar eclipse to occur there must be a full moon, and the orbit in such a position that the sun, Earth and moon are in a straight line.
On average, a total lunar eclipse can be seen from a specific point once about every two-and-a-half years.
UVic’s telescopes at the Bob Wright Centre will be available from 6:30 p.m. onwards, with the moon totally eclipsed for an hour starting at precisely 8:42.
If you want the close-up telescope experience from your couch, the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles will be live streaming the event.
While Thanjavur said this isn’t an important event scientifically, it can be a profound experience.
"It’s something that you are so used to you know the full moon is so beautiful and then it just turns into something very different during a brief period of time, it’s all very exciting and very impressive and that’s why the lunar eclipse is so spectacular."
