Greeted by a bloody moon

If you stepped outside in the wee hours of the morning to take a break from studying for midterms, you may have noticed that the moon was not its usual pale self.

In fact, there was a total eclipse of the moon, which gave it a reddish tone. This is the first full lunar eclipse that North America has seen since 2011.

This effect is commonly known as a “blood moon” and is the source behind many eerie legends around the world.

According to an article from National Geographic, the Inca believed that a jaguar attacked the moon and it would then turn red with blood. They feared that if the moon was slayed by the jaguar, the creature would attack the earth next. In order to prevent this, the people would wave their weapons at the moon and make a lot of noise.

In modern society, the myths behind the blood moon revolve around werewolves and random paranormal events.

“It’s nonsense,” astronomy professor Paul Hintzen said. “I heard people say, ‘Oh it’s the blood moon, Canada is going to explode.’”

The real reason behind the blood moon is less on the paranormal side. During the full lunar eclipse, the moon is directly in the shadow of Earth. The Sun is on the opposite side of Earth and casts light that illuminates the moon.

Although Earth blocks most of the light, the atmosphere scatters the light and gives the moon a reddish tone.

“That’s why it’s faint and red,” Hintzen said. If the Earth had no atmosphere, the moon would be black during a total lunar eclipse.

The shade of the moon during the eclipse also depends on the amount of dust and clouds present in Earth’s atmosphere. When there are more particles in the atmosphere, the moon is a shade of darker reddish-brown.

Although the full lunar eclipse is known as the blood moon, Hintzen laughs and disagrees with that name.

“It doesn’t look like blood,” he said. “It looks more orange.”

The blood moon, which shone from 12:53 a.m. to 6 a.m. this morning, marks the first of four consecutive total eclipses.

The next full lunar eclipse will happen on October 8, 2014.

“The point is,” Hintzen said, “you don’t need an observatory, a telescope or binoculars. Just step out every 30 minutes and you will see the eclipse.”