A super blue moon passed through the Earth’s shadow to give a partial lunar eclipse in Dhahran on the evening of 31 January 2018. A lunar eclipse
occurs when the moon passes directly behind the earth into its umbra. The
alignment of the sun, moon and Earth lasted one hour and 16 minutes in Saudi
Arabia. While the Moon is in the Earth’s shadow it will take on a reddish tint,
known as a “blood moon.” A blue moon refers to the second full moon in a month
which typically happens every two years and eight months. Lunar eclipses during
a supermoon happen quite frequently with the last one in September 2015. Lunar
eclipses occur at least twice a year and supermoons can happen four to six
times a year. The last time a similar event happened was 55 years ago when the eclipse
will occur simultaneously with a supermoon, causing the eclipse to appear
closer and bigger, about 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter. The phrase blue
moon has nothing to do with the actual color of the moon, although a literal
'blue moon' (the moon appearing with a tinge of blue) may occur in certain
atmospheric conditions, for example, if volcanic eruptions or fires leave
particles in the atmosphere of just the right size to preferentially scatter
red light. The below photo was taken towards the end of the eclipse at 18:00 hrs.
