YEREVAN. – Residents of Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia, witnessed unique phenomena - the super blue moon. Armenian News - NEWS.am recorded a huge moon in its full phase from 5 to 6 a.m. on Wednesday.
The camera caught super moon and the so-called blue moon, the director of Byurakan Observatory Areg Mikaelyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.
However, the residents of Armenia unfortunately will not be able to see the moon eclipse that is scheduled for 2 p.m. Greenwich time.
He explained that “the blue moon” is just an epithet that is applied to the Moon, if it passes a full phase twice a month.
The Chaldean astronomers learned predicting lunar eclipses for several centuries BC. They also discovered the so-called draconic period (about 6,585 days, another name - saros) - a cycle after which lunar and solar eclipses repeat. One of the first reliable references to the observation of the lunar eclipse is found in the ancient Chinese chronicles dated 1137 BC.
The most famous lunar eclipse was recorded on March 1, 1504. Christopher Columbus, knowing in advance about the forthcoming phenomenon, was able to take advantage of this. During his fourth journey, he was forced to stand on the north coast of Jamaica in the summer of 1503, waiting for help from Spain.
Initially, Columbus managed to arrange the supply of his expedition with food. He exchanged food for the stuff brought from Europe. However, at the beginning of the winter of 1504, the Indians began to bring less food. Knowing that the eclipse would soon take place, Columbus called the leaders of the Indians and told them that the Spanish god was angry and was going to take the moon from the inhabitants of Jamaica. When the moon darkened and then turned dark red, the Indians asked for mercy and generously supplied the expedition with food until they returned to Spain in June 1504.
Depending on the year, there can be four or five eclipses in a single year. The next five lunar eclipses on Earth could be visible only in 2132.
The previous full lunar eclipse was recorded on September 28, 2015.
In 2018 there will be only two lunar eclipses - both complete. The first will take place on January 31. The next one will be on July 27 and will last 103 minutes - the longest lunar eclipse in the XXI century.
Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am
