Last night I was able to catch a glimpse of a rare lunar eclipse in which the Moon, Sun, and Earth were in total alignment, turning the moon a deep red - a blood moon. The eclipse started around 7pm with the Earth’s shadow blocking light traveling from the Sun to the Moon’s surface and lasted for the next 3 hours as the moon dimmed from an unusual gold color before turning deep red. While this phenomena occurs at least twice a year somewhere in the world, the last time it was visible from Wollongong was in July 2000 and the next blood moon will not be visible from NSW until Dec 2011.
The rare event has captivated the imaginations of different cultures around the world with Serrano Indians of California believing it is spirits of the dead trying to eat the Sun or Moon. Ancient Chinese culture has it that a dragon swallowed the Moon during an eclipse and beating on mirrors would cause the dragon to cough up the Moon and return it the sky.
Whatever you believe, it was beautiful sight sitting on the beach in North ‘Gong under a red moon
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