The best places in South Africa to watch the ‘blood moon’ lunar eclipse

A total lunar eclipse, a rare astrological event, occurring on the evening of Friday 27 July, will be visible from South Africa.

How long will the lunar eclipse be visible for?

The event, which will last two hours, should start at 7.15pm, with totality beginning at 9.30pm.
Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars should also be visible.

How many types of lunar eclipses are there?

There are three types of lunar eclipses: total, partial and penumbral. Lunar eclipses can only occur at full moon, with the rarest being a total eclipse: when the sun, the Earth and the moon are in perfect alignment. Anything less than perfect will result in either a partial lunar eclipse or none at all.

Perfect alignment of the three celestial bodies does not occur at every full moon due to the moon’s orbit around the Earth laying in a slightly different plane than the Earth’s orbit around the sun.

Where in South Africa will the lunar eclipse be visible?

If the weather permits, this is where you will be able to view the lunar eclipse:

• Cape Town – there will be telescopes lined up along the V&A Waterfront for people to view the eclipse. The event kicks off at 18:00
• Stellenbosch – telescopes will be set up at Dirtopia Trail Centre and Cafè on Delvera. Entry is R50
• Johannesburg – the event kicks of at 18:00, at the Johannesburg Observatory
• Magaliesburg – telescopes will be set up at MelonRouge. Entry is R150
• Hermanus – telescopes will be set up at the parking terrain of NG Kerk Onrusrivier from 20:00

What exactly happens during a lunar eclipse?

During this rare event, the moon will pass, in stages, through two shadows cast by the Earth: the penumbral shadow and the umbral shadow.

The most noticeable part of the eclipse will occur during its passing through the umbra, the Earth’s full shadow. This happens midway through the event as the initial and final stages are through the penumbra, the Earth’s partial, outer shadow.

Although the moon doesn’t completely disappear during a total lunar eclipse, scattered and refracted light from the Earth’s atmosphere will give it a dim glow.

During the total phase of the eclipse, most colours in the spectrum will be blocked and scattered by the Earth’s atmosphere, except for red, causing the moon to appear red or coppery.

According to NASA scientists:

“The exact colour that the moon appears depends on the amount of dust and clouds in the atmosphere. If there are other particles in the atmosphere, from say a recent volcanic eruption, the moon will appear a darker shade of red.”

How Christopher Columbus leveraged a blood moon total lunar eclipse

It is told that in 1504, on his fourth and final voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus used the blood moon as a way to ensure survival for himself and his crew.

On 25 June 1503, after shipworms ate through his fleet, Colombia beached his remaining two ships in Jamaica.

Although the native Jamaicans initially welcomed them and provided food, six months later, the castaways robbed and murdered some of the natives, who had become tired of feeding them.

Possessing an almanack that marked a lunar eclipse for 29 February 1504, Columbus went to the chief and informed him that Christian god was most displeased with his people for no longer supplying food to the castaways.

Columbus told him that in three nights, God would make the full moon appear “inflamed with wrath” as a sign of his discontent.

According to an account by Colombus’ son, when the blood moon became visible, the natives were so terrified and in such a state of frenzy that they came running to the ships, from every direction, laden with provisions.

Just before the end of the total phase of the eclipse, Columbus announced that God had pardoned the natives and would bring the moon back.

Until help arrived in November that enabled Columbus and his crew to return to Spain, the men were well fed and never lacked provisions during their stay on the island again.