The lunar eclipse that takes place this Tuesday (8), the second and last of this year, will only be visible in Brazil in a small part of the North region. The phenomenon occurs when the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon, which is covered by the planet’s shadow.
The event starts at 5:02 am (Brasilia time), with the penumbral eclipse, which is not visible to the naked eye, only with equipment. At 6:09 am, it will be possible to see the Moon being partially eclipsed, as the umbra, the darkest shadow, advances through the satellite.
“It’s when you enter the umbra, when you see the full moon and you start to see a dark ‘bite’. When you are fully in the umbra, we have a total eclipse”, says Josina Nascimento, an astronomer at the National Observatory.
The total eclipse starts at 7:16 am, peaks at 7:59 am and ends at 8:42 am this Tuesday, says Josina. The phenomenon will be visible from Asia, western Canada and the United States and the far east of Russia, as well as regions in the Pacific basin.
In Brazil, it will only be possible to follow the event for a few minutes in places in the extreme west of Amazonas and Acre, such as the city of Cruzeiro do Sul. “It will be possible to see the partial and the total with the Moon very close to the horizon, but there are people who won’t be able to, because there may be a building or a tree in front”, says the astronomer.
For those who do not live in Cruzeiro do Sul or Easter Island, in the middle of the Pacific, it is possible to follow a broadcast from the National Observatory that takes place from 5:30 am this Tuesday on the observatory’s YouTube channel. Specialists will clear up doubts and comment on the phenomenon.
It is the next? In 2023, there will be a partial event visible from Brazil, but a total lunar eclipse, only in 2025.
“It will be very good for Brazil, because we will see it all over the country, from March 13th to 14th, with the moon high, around three in the morning”, says Josina.
The total eclipse causes the phenomenon of the blood moon, when the satellite turns a reddish color. This happens, according to Roberto Costa, professor in the Astronomy department of the Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences at USP, because the Earth’s atmosphere, which is in the path between the light of the Sun and the Moon, works as a filter.
“The Earth’s atmosphere is a filter that scatters more blue and lets more red through. So much so that we go to the blue sky, why? Because the mixture of oxygen and nitrogen that forms the Earth’s atmosphere is very efficient at scattering light blue”, says Roberto Costa,
“That’s why the sunset is red, because it goes through a much thicker part of the atmosphere.”
Costa explains that lunar eclipses also helped the Greeks prove two thousand years ago that the Earth is round.
“Think about next night’s eclipse, observed from Acre. The Moon will be very low on the western horizon. If the Earth were like a pizza, the Sun would be close to the eastern horizon and the Earth’s shadow on the Moon, if it were flat, wouldn’t be a record, but a track”, he says.
“And the Greeks argue: it doesn’t matter what time of night the eclipse occurs: the Earth’s shadow on the Moon is always circular, and the only geometric shape that explains this is that the Earth is round. It’s an argument known for two millennia. “.
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