Blood Moon Rising: Some Facts, History, And Photos

So you probably didn’t hear about it, but last night there was a MEGA GIANT BLOOD MOON. In case you’re curious about what that means: the moon, which is made out of cheese, was full, close to earth, eclipsed — the moon was everything.

A more detailed breakdown:

• Supermoons occur when the moon is at full phase and also at its closest point to earth.
• Lunar eclipses occur when the moon is in the shadow of the earth (meaning the earth’s shadow blocks the sun’s light).
• The red color comes from light filtering through the earth’s atmosphere (red light cuts through the atmosphere better than other colors in the spectrum).

Blood moon fun fact: In 1504, Christopher Columbus and his crew were stranded in Jamaica and had been living off the generosity of locals for a number of months. The natives were increasingly angry about these castaways (mostly because Columbus & co. kept killing them). Columbus saw the writing on the wall and needed a power play. Armed with an almanac created by a German mathematician who went by the name of Regiomontanus and noticing that an eclipse was on the way, Columbus set up a parley with the local chieftain. The explorer warned the chief that god was angry with them and would make the moon look furious three nights later. When the eclipse occurred, the locals ran to the beach with provisions for the stranded explorers. As the eclipse ended, Columbus acted like he was the one restoring the moon (on God’s behalf), then he went to eat the feast he had effectively stolen.

In the modern era, blood moons are used for social media rather than con artistry. Here are a few of our favorites from last night:

https://instagram.com/p/8Kn7oJgUMX/

https://instagram.com/p/8KibcJD6M9/

https://twitter.com/WiredUK/status/648413552097787904

https://twitter.com/sga501/status/648427913071558656/