blood red moon, meath, April 18th

carlarua

Can anyone explain why the full moon yesterday over the west side of meath had a rusty red colour ?
Has it something to do with dust in the atmosphere ? Or are there any other factors ?
I'm sorry if this is posted in the wrong forum, but this seemed to be the appropriate one for thing like this

pauldry

Ye have yer own special moon in Meath, we make do with the standard white one in Sligo

Blackhorse Slim

I saw that too, from Navan. It was very orange/red as the moon was rising, becoming more yellow/white later on. I assume it was the same everywhere?

carlarua

A bit further down the road, it looked pink-ish ; a friend in Donegal said it looked yellower than usual, and they had a spectacular red sunset.

Blachorse Slim, I'm just down the road from you
I promise no alcohol was involved when making these observations

seamus

Could see it in Dublin too. Unfortunately my iPhone camera is incapable of taking a good shot, all I got was a tiny nondistinct orange blob on a black background.

Ogie84

Same in Cork last night, beautiful sight it must be said.

Blackhorse Slim

Cool, I'll be looking out for this again tonight

BEASTERLY

Here's one i took on Sunday evening, it was high enough up at that stage but still very orange:

Iancar29

BEASTERLY wrote: »

Here's one i took on Sunday evening, it was high enough up at that stage but still very orange:

Great photo!, now i want to get one like that now! ha

Iancar29

BEASTERLY wrote: »

Here's one i took on Sunday evening, it was high enough up at that stage but still very orange:

Great photo!, now i want to get one like that now! ha

Moon rises 2nite at 11.10pm for anyone else interested !

yop

Same in Mayo. Very odd color and it was massive last night. Like a dust of some sort across it.

Su Campu

It's down to the same process that makes the sky look blue. As the moonlight from the low moon had a long path through the atmosphere, short wavelengths (blue) got Rayleigh-scattered out by the nitrogen molecules, leaving only the red end of the spectrum to make it through the whole way. That's why it looked orange-red, but became whiter as it rose. As it rose, the shorter path through the atmosphere meant that more of the blue light got through, meaning we got the full spectrum of light, i.e. white. The haze that's currently affecting us accentuated the effect.

See here for more info

http://www.irishweatheronline.com/news/why-is-the-sky-blue/8597.html

eskimocat

On the Ray D'arcy radio show this morning he read out a question from a listener about the red moon, and Ray said to tune in tomorrow morning and they would have someone answer that question. (at least i think it was this morning i heard it!)

M.T. Cranium

Another factor is that the southeast flow in the atmosphere has come across parts of the U.K. and Europe that are heavily urbanized and industrial, also dry from long-term drought, so there is more than the usual load of dirt particles suspended in the middle layers of the atmosphere. Some of the Saharan sand may still be drifting around too. These would increase the red-orange colour of the Moon and may also lead to more colourful sunrise and sunsets.

BEASTERLY

The moon rise was ruined by cloud here last night. Hopefully it will stay clear tonight? Anybody know what time it is up tonight?

Iancar29

BEASTERLY wrote: »

The moon rise was ruined by cloud here last night. Hopefully it will stay clear tonight? Anybody know what time it is up tonight?

Not till 00:25 pal.

BEASTERLY

Iancar29 wrote: »

Not till 00:25 pal.

Cheers, hopefully the cloud doesnt come back tonight and ruin it.