Of course it was cloudy and raining…
Last night night saw many parts of the world greeted with a rare and distinctive lunar spectacle.
As the moon lined up with the Earth and the Sun, the moon darkened in colour switching from its silvery glow to a rustic, dark red colour creating a rare blood moon.
Mars added to the wonder on Friday night as it appeared directly below the blood moon at near maximum brightness.
Earlier this week, Chairman of Astronomy Ireland David Moore said that the whole site would be “spectacular” earlier this week, provided there was no clouds or haze in the sky.
In typical Irish fashion, we’ve had a glorious summer with almost no rain over the last couple of months, but on Friday night when we needed a clear sky, the god of rain took one look and said he was going to dash the party.
Met Éireann issued a rainfall warning yesterday so the writing was on the wall from early on, but many still held out hope that the clouds would part and the wonderful vista would be revealed.
It didn’t pan out like that for a lot of people…
https://twitter.com/alicemckeon11/status/1022909724428300291
The one night it rains all summer would be the one where everyone's trying to look at the blood moon 😬
— Richard Chambers (@newschambers) July 27, 2018
Can't decide if I am more excited about the #BloodMoon or the return of rain to this (formerly)-green and pleasant isle.
— Clodagh O Connor (@iamagnat) July 27, 2018
Here's a picture of the Blood Moon from Dublin
Just imagine all the clouds aren't there#BloodMoon pic.twitter.com/ZIqEDRvmkS
— Piers Scott (@pdscott) July 27, 2018
Blood moon, eclipse, Jupiter, Venus, Mars, ISS, it's all in there. #astronomy pic.twitter.com/wO7ATjTKbO
— David Gantly (@davegantly) July 27, 2018
https://twitter.com/ainedownes/status/1022946849760706561
Waiting patiently for the clouds to clear so I can get a pic of the #BloodMoon – it should be rising just over Horse Island right now….first cloudy day in #WestCork this month #typical pic.twitter.com/TJukJsCMZF
— Art O'Leary (@ArtOLeary) July 27, 2018
Historically, blood red moons were seen as omen for terrible events with their deep red colour. In a famous passage in the Book of Joel in the Hebrew Bible, it warns that “the sun will turn into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.”
For those of you who couldn’t see it, here’s an image of it from Hong Kong.
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