Starship Asterisk*

Lunar Eclipse over Rio

Explanation: Moonrise doesn't usually look this interesting. For one thing, the full moon is not usually this dark -- but last Friday the moon rose here as it simultaneously passed through the shadow of the Earth. For another thing, the Moon does not usually look this red -- but last Friday it was slightly illuminated by red sunlight preferentially refracted through the Earth's atmosphere. Next, the Moon doesn't usually rise next to a planet, but since Mars was also coincidently nearly opposite the Sun, the red planet was visible to the full moon's upper right. Finally, from the vantage point of most people, the Moon does not usually rise over Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Last Friday's sunset eclipse, however, specifically its remarkable Micro Blood Moon Total Lunar Eclipse, was captured from Rio's Botofogo Beach, along with an unusually large crowd of interested onlookers.

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Must have been nice...

Nice shot...
:---[===] *

I went to the fields outside the city for an unobscured view of the event, and was pleasantly surprised by the many other cars that had stopped on the side of the small roads, for apparently the same reason as I had come for. Possibly the weekend and summer holidays created an opportunity for more people, than I remember from past lunar eclipses.

Interesting to see the position of the moon and Mars as seen from Rio. Here from northern Germany looking at the southern horizont, Mars was found south from the moon and a little bit westwards (see for example picture in https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44945452, where Mars and the Moon are given as we saw it from here (assume lower picture Edge as the southern horizont)). Botafogo beach is (approx.) in north (west)-south (east) direction.

thomas.st wrote: ↑Mon Jul 30, 2018 12:27 pm Interesting to see the position of the moon and Mars as seen from Rio. Here from northern Germany looking at the southern horizont, Mars was found south from the moon and a little bit westwards (see for example picture in https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44945452, where Mars and the Moon are given as we saw it from here (assume lower picture Edge as the southern horizont)). Botafogo beach is (approx.) in north (west)-south (east) direction.

Interesting point.

With a small clip from Google Maps (with North at the top) :

Kiko Fairbairn has captured a beautiful image of the event. I'm wondering how much of the eclipse was left to watch when it had risen over Sugarloaf to the east of Botafogo beach. That might have required patience! (This point is well east of any point in the United States or even Canada, and the eclipse had ended before they saw the moon rise.)

From Sugarloaf itself, or from Cristo Redentor -- way up on Corcovado, folks would have seen it as soon as the moon rose out on the ocean. I wonder if any nice photos were taken from either of those vantage points. But this one, with Sugarloaf framing the Moon and Mars, is an exquisite image.

This image, along with the APOD posting, received significant press attention in Brazil. Upon my request, the photographer provided me with some press coverage links.

Here're some publications regarding the APOD image:

[ Biggest Brazilian Newspaper ] - https://oglobo.globo.com/sociedade/cien ... o-22931829


[ Biggest Brazilian Science Magazine ] - https://revistagalileu.globo.com/Cienci ... -nasa.html


[ Biggest Brazilian On-line Newspaper, very popular among working social classes ] - https://g1.globo.com/ciencia-e-saude/no ... nasa.ghtml

Here is a screenshot from the Facebook site of a popular Brazilian media outlet that seems to have recorded 36 million Likes on the image.