“It’s a scary moon, it reminds me of monsters,” said 8-year-old Enzo Estrada, who was with his parents and three younger siblings at the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) Observatory while looking at the rare phenomena— the lunar trifecta—or more commonly known as the super blue blood moon, on January 31.
“Actually, it’s a beautiful moon,” Enzo’s mother, Kenny Estrada, chuckled as she told the BusinessMirror that the whole family was happy to see a red moon for the first time. “We’re here because we wanted to share this moment to our kids and learn something.”
While the young Estrada was terrified of the red moon, the chief of the Pagasa Space Sciences and Astronomy Section, Engr. Dario de la Cruz, assured everybody at the observatory that no monsters nor any superstitious impressions and phenomena will happen after the super blue blood moon showed up in the clear night skies of Manila.
“This is just a natural event,” de la Cruz told the BusinessMirror in Filipino. “Every time the sun, Earth and moon align in this order, we will always have a lunar eclipse.”
He added that the event was exceptional, because it was not a lunar eclipse alone but was composed of three events, or trifecta—together with a supermoon and a blue moon—at the same time.
Supermoon
“The supermoon happens when the moon is at its perigee,” explained Pagasa Observatory Resident Astronomer Lordnico P. Mendoza, while he was helping this journalist install her camera on one of Pagasa’s telescopes so she could get a photo of the start of the blood moon, the total lunar eclipse and the end of the blood moon.
“Perigee is when the moon is closest to the Earth, making the moon 30 percent brighter and 14 percent bigger than the average moon seen from here on Earth,” Mendoza added.
Furthermore, a supermoon occurs when the distance between the center of the moon is less than 360,000 kilometers from the center of the Earth.
Blue moon
The idiom “once in a blue moon” is said when people would mean something that happens rarely.
This is based on the fact that a blue moon rarely occurs because it is the second full moon within a month. It happens only once every two or three years. The last blue moon occurred on May 21, 2016, while the next blue moon will be on October 31, 2020.
Why it was called “blue moon”? The term “blue” actually came from the word “blewe,”which is an old English word for betrayer. When a 13th full moon appears, it was thought that this moon was a “betrayer” of the lunar cycle.
But the moon can actually turn blue if the atmosphere is mixed with dust that can filter the excess red light from the sun.
Total lunar eclipse; blood moon
A total lunar eclipse happens when the sun, Earth and moon are in perfect alignment.
The red color of the moon was caused by this alignment and “was a result of the shadow of the Earth that partially blocks the light given by the sun where it should be reflected by the moon.”
Mendoza said the light of the sun is filtered when it goes through the Earth’s atmosphere. A light is a prism, and it is composed of the seven colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet), wherein each color has different wavelengths.
The Earth’s atmosphere filters the colors with shorter wavelengths, hence, leaving the red and orange—which have longer wavelengths—bathing on the moon’s surface. Thus, the moon is given a reddish color.
Filipino’s perception
At the Pagasa Observatory in Quezon City, four telescopes were lined up for the use of the public who wanted to take a closer look of the lunar phenomena. Others saw the spectacle through a permanently installed 45 centimeters telescope at the observatory.
A thousand of astronomy enthusiasts and organizations flocked the observatory with their telescopes for use by people who wanted to witness the rare event.
Of course, millions more Filipinos looked up the sky in different areas in the country.
Many even flooded the social media with their photos of the super blue blood moon.
“I think they [Filipinos] got really excited with this rare phenomena,” de la Cruz told the BusinessMirror. “I think this was caused by the social media,” de la Cruz said, adding that, in the old days people would only rely on the radio for news of lunar events. “We are happy with the outcome.”
Future of Filipino astronomy
While the public’s big interest in the event exceeded Pagasa’s expectation, de la Cruz announced that more Filipinos will enjoy the cosmic wonders in the future through the projects the agency has lined up.
Through the Pagasa modernization program, the observatory has allotted a budget of P130 million for projects that would entice the public, especially those in the regions. He disclosed that a planetarium will be installed each in the Visayas and Mindanao.
“Astronomy development here in the Philippines is growing and we have realized that we need to encourage more people to do astronomy with us. So we have secured a budget for the instalment of planetariums in the Visayas and Mindanao,” de la Cruz said.
To reach the farthest regions of the country, the Pagasa has purchased five mobile planetariums, which will be installed in the National Capital Region, Northern Luzon, Southern Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.
“We have already hired researchers and we are doing research on variable stars,” de la Cruz added. Variable stars are those whose brightness fluctuates as seen from Earth.
De la Cruz shared that the observatory has already purchased a solar telescope, which will aid them in observations and research of the sun.
“We also have an on-process purchase of a 5.3-meter radio telescope, which will be installed in our station in Tanay,” he added.
Image credits: Stephanie Tumampos/BusinessMirror and Lordnico P. Mendoza/Pagasa Observatory