What does total lunar eclipse plus blood moon plus Uranus represent?

On June 8, 2022, 165438+ will stage a rare astronomical spectacle in the Millennium, and the total lunar eclipse will cover Uranus. I missed this spectacle, and I will have to wait for more than two thousand years to see it next time. With the total lunar eclipse (blood moon) on165438+1October 8, it also means that there were two blood moon phenomena in 2022. So does the appearance of the blood moon bode ill?

What exactly is a blood moon?

What is a blood moon? Simply put, the blood moon is another name for the total lunar eclipse. During the eclipse, the earth passed between the sun and the moon, blocking the sunlight. During a total lunar eclipse, the earth will block the whole moon. However, even during the total lunar eclipse, the moon is not completely dark. What we see from the earth is that the moon slowly darkens, changes color, and changes from bright white to orange-red in a few hours.

Red appears because sunlight reaching the moon must pass through the earth's atmosphere and be scattered there. Shorter wavelengths are more easily scattered by air molecules and small particles; Therefore, when light penetrates the atmosphere, longer wavelengths dominate. Human vision perceives this generated light as red, which has the same effect as causing sunsets and sunrises to turn the sky red. The amount of refracted light depends on the amount of dust or clouds in the atmosphere, which also controls the amount of scattered light. Generally speaking, the more dust there is in the atmosphere, the more light of other wavelengths will be removed (compared with red light), and the generated light will appear darker red.

A rare astronomical wonder in the Millennium-the total lunar eclipse covered Uranus.

Everyone should be familiar with the moon. It is the closest celestial body to us and the easiest celestial body to find in the night sky. For thousands of years, the moon has been with us, and there are many beautiful legends about the moon. For example, the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon in China, Guanghan Palace on the moon and so on. But the moon's orbit and phase seem mysterious. For example, the moon always faces our earth. Although it is a satellite of the earth, the moon with a diameter of about 3475 kilometers is bigger than Pluto.

Uranus is the third "gas giant planet" among the four planets close to the sun. Generally speaking, Uranus is the seventh planet in our solar system, with an average distance of 65.438+08 billion miles from the sun (twice that of Saturn). Its rotation speed is fast (about 18 hours), which is enough to crush the two poles of the planet (this is the characteristic of all gas giants). Uranus takes 84 years to orbit the sun. This water planet has 27 known satellites.

Because the apparent diameter of the moon is much larger than the apparent diameter of the planet (or star), and the orbits of the moon and the planet in the sky are similar, the planet (or star) in the background is often blocked during its orbit around the earth. This phenomenon is called lunar eclipse. In short, the eclipse of Uranus is an astronomical phenomenon in which the moon blocks Uranus. It is not uncommon for the moon to cover Uranus itself, but it will be very rare if it encounters a total lunar eclipse. If you miss the total lunar eclipse in June 2022 165438+ 10, you won't see it again until 4344, which is more than 2300 years apart.

Does the appearance of the blood moon bode ill?

In many ancient cultures, people believe that the appearance of lunar eclipse indicates a bad phenomenon. For example, the tengu in our country ate the moon, and the ancient Incas thought that the eclipse occurred when the jaguar ate the moon, which is why the blood moon looks red. In ancient Mesopotamia, the eclipse occurred when the moon was attacked by seven demons and so on. There are also "blood moon" and biblical revelation. I saw him open the sixth seal again, and the earth shook greatly. The sun is as black as linen and the moon is as black as blood. The blood moon looks very similar to this "moon turns black like blood", which is said to herald the doomsday scene described in Revelation. These give people an illusion that the blood moon seems to herald bad things.

Actually, it's not. First of all, we now know why the moon turned red during the total lunar eclipse. This is only because our atmosphere scatters other spectra, leaving a longer wavelength of red. In addition, although the total lunar eclipse is relatively rare in a certain area, the frequency of occurrence on a global scale is actually not very low. If it really indicates something, then this frequency is too high.

Generally speaking, a total lunar eclipse or a blood moon is just a normal astronomical phenomenon and can't predict anything. But don't miss this total lunar eclipse and the total lunar eclipse covering Uranus. Unfortunately, although Uranus is the last planet visible to the naked eye in our solar system, we must have a dark night sky and good eyesight to find Uranus without the help of a telescope. If you look at it from a suitable position, you can still find Uranus easily through a standard telescope.