The longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century can be admired tonight. You don’t need any special equipment to see a lunar eclipse or blood moon, but there is more to see. Four planets are also more visible tonight. To get everything into space, we discuss 5 useful apps.
Lunar eclipse can be seen
Normally, a moon turns completely dark again by itself, but during an eclipse it turns red in color. Hence the name ‘blood moon’. At that point, some of the sunlight passes through Earth’s atmosphere and then curves around our planet. This is how the light projects onto the moon. At the same time, the light in the Earth’s sky has a shorter wavelength, which means that fewer blues and greens can be seen. This makes the moon red.
The planets Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus are also extra visible tonight. This is due to the clear weather and because the moon is darkened then. To also see Saturn’s rings and Jupiter’s moons, you need an app or old-fashioned binoculars.
The lunar eclipse starts in the Netherlands at 9:30 PM and lasts until 11:14 PM. The next lunar eclipse can be seen on January 21, 2019. After that, it will not happen again until September 2025.
1. Star Chart
With Star Chart you can find out the location of every star, moon and planet through 3D simulation and GPS. Point your iPhone at the sky in the evening and the app will show you the info of every object that can be seen. Handy for the lunar eclipse is that you can see from Star Chart what the blood moon looks like in Cape Town or Bangkok, for example. To do this, change your location in the settings and get a picture of how the moon looks in the rest of the world.
Do you want to compare the lunar eclipse with an older or different type of eclipse? Star Chart also lets you look back in history. With Time Shift you can see the space image up to 10,000 years ago.
2. Night Cap Camera
Are you trying to take a picture of the blood moon? Then it can be difficult to make more than a red dot in the sky. The Night Cap Pro app has been specially developed for photographing astronomy. The application makes your iPhone use a slower shutter speed when shooting a photo.
By exposing the lens to light for longer, the moon looks less ‘flat’ or out of focus. The app can also help to take better photos in poor light after the lunar eclipse. It reduces the grainy effect that a photo can have in the dark. Night Cap Camera also has a time-lapse function, so you can also capture the moon spectacle that way.
3. SkySafari
SkySafari has a huge database of information about the galaxy and shows you everything you ask for. The app has a search function where you can look up specific planets or stars. For example, use the voice function to call ‘select Mars’ or ‘find the Moon’ and the app will do it. This allows you to zoom in on any planet during the lunar eclipse, which is displayed using augmented reality. Each object has its own information visualizations about its history and properties.
With the app’s paid subscription, you can listen to audio tours through universes and view specific orbits, or a detailed view of a specific piece of space.
4. Moon Phase Calender Plus
Lunar eclipses are more common than solar eclipses. If you want to view a blood moon more often, Moon Phase Calender Plus will show you when you can. The calendar app shows the position of the moon from your exact location and automatically counts down to the next ‘phase’ of the moon.
Users can set different notifications. For example, get a signal just before a full moon or other event is about to start. Moon Phase Calender uses data from NASA for this.
5. NASA
NASA is an authority on astronomy. Read all important information and background about the lunar eclipse and the other planets that can be admired in the NASA app. In addition to the latest news, you will also learn more about their space missions in the NASA app.
Watch streams from space or browse through the most special photos of the Sun, Moon and of course Earth. Nice extra: NASA also makes all these photos available as wallpapers to save from the app.