Lunar eclipse of October 28th visible from Italy:that's why it occurs

The phenomenon will occur starting from 8pm and will reach its peak at 10.14pm

ROME - The last lunar eclipse of 2023 will be partial and visible from Italy.The phenomenon will occur on the evening of October 28th, starting at 8pm approximately and will reach the peak, i.e. the moment of maximum darkening, around 10.14pm to end just before 11pm. But what is a lunar eclipse?And why does the Moon turn red?

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WHAT IS THE PARTIAL LUNAR ECLIPSE

A lunar eclipse is an astronomical phenomenon that occurs during the Sun-Earth-Moon alignment, with our planet sandwiched between the two.During the event, the Moon (in full moon phase) does not receive light directly from the Sun, but passes through the shadow cast by the Earth.

In reality, our planet projects two shadows where our Moon passes during a lunar eclipse:umbra is a complete dark shade.The penumbra is an external shadow, less pronounced.During the partial lunar eclipse, the Sun, Earth and Moon are not perfectly aligned and our satellite transits only partially in the umbra.

A lunar eclipse can only occur on a full Moon.But since our satellite's orbit around the Earth is in a slightly different plane than the Earth's orbit around the Sun, the perfect alignment for an eclipse does not occur at every full Moon.

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THE RED MOON

Generally, the Moon appears bright yellow.We perceive this color because it directly reflects the light of the Sun.However, during a lunar eclipse, the Earth comes perfectly between the Moon and the Sun and casts a shadow on the Moon. The light from the Sun no longer reaches the Moon directly:our satellite instead, it will reflect that filtered by the Earth. The Earth's atmosphere therefore behaves as a prism and the light of the Sun is broken down.As green light and blue light are scattered through the air, the red one manages to reach the Moon. Our satellite reflects it and a reddish color is therefore perceived on Earth.

However, during the partial lunar eclipse of October 28th we will hardly see the red Moon, because the darkened portion will be very minimal.

We can actually see a Red Moon even without an eclipse. The most common way to see one is when our satellite it's low in the sky, shortly after its rising or when it is on the horizon line.Another reason why you may see the red Moon is because of the particles in the air. A fire or volcanic eruption they can fill release very small particles that, in part, obscure light from the Sun.