Blood Moon 2026
Blood Moon Composite - 3/3/26
A Blood Moon occurs during a total lunar eclipse when the Earth moves directly between the Sun and the Moon, casting its shadow across the lunar surface. Because some sunlight is filtered and refracted through Earth's atmosphere, shorter blue wavelengths are scattered out and longer red wavelengths reach the Moon, giving it a coppery or reddish hue. Hence the name “Blood Moon”. Observers often see a range of tones from deep rust to bright orange depending on atmospheric conditions. Ash from fires in nearby Daytona Beach may have contributed to the deepening of those reddish hues during this event.
The photo above is a composite shot over a period of about 1/2 hour. I took the liberty of “stretching out” the path to make the photo a bit easier to interpret. Exposure times varied from 1/1250 sec in the topmost photo to help eliminate camera shake down to 1 second for the bottom shot in order to capture what little light was available during the total eclipse.
“Super Blood Moon” from 2015
The image above was taken back in New York 10 years ago. I include it here to give a little better idea of how the “Blood Moon” gets its name. The horizon was a little clearer and this was what is known as a “Super Moon” during which time the moon is slightly closer to the earth and therefore looks a bit larger. Our next “Blood Moon” will occur in 2029, so get ready! Snooze, you lose!
