Late Sunday night some 20 student’s rushed out of the library into the parking lot to see the much talked about “Blood Moon,” a special kind of lunar eclipse that occurs when the moon is the closest to the earth in its orbit.

Erin Summerlin, a radiology junior, said, “I was glad to have been lucky enough to witness the blood moon myself. I’m glad I took the study break, and I was surprised when I woke up early for class to find how bright it still was from the moon being so close.”

The students came out in the parking lot around 9:15 p.m. to see the last of the white of the moon disappear, turning red.

“When I saw a group going outside I thought it would be well worth the break from my homework. I definitely am glad I got to see it but must say I am kind of disappointed just because it was pretty hard to see and I had high expectations. Still cool to say I saw it though,” said Ashley Batts early education junior.

Martin Melhus, a physics assistant professor, explains how the nickname “Blood Moon” came into effect: When the light that gets to it diffracts through the Earth’s atmosphere, it’s bent a little. As it moves through the atmosphere a lot of the blue light is stripped out of it. The light that is left is red, and the moon is illuminated by this light so it looks redish.

This effect is also creates colorful sunrises and sunsets.

While watching the moon in the library parking lot, one of the students even called the experience “spooky.”

“What really gets me is the way they predict asteroids. The way they predict those motions that is really impressive,” said Melhus.

The next supermoon eclipse will not occur until 2033.

DEFINITIONS

Lunar eclipse | A lunar eclipse (also known as a blood moon) occurs when the Moon passes directly behind the Earth into its umbra (shadow).

Super moon | A supermoon is the coincidence of a full moon or a new moon with the closest approach the Moon makes to the Earth on its elliptical orbit, resulting in the largest apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from Earth