ABC News’ Clayton Sandell talks with kids excited to see the rare lunar eclipse in Denver.
Transcript for Families across the Western US wake up early to see the super blue blood moon
Again it’s plates and though we are live from Denver. At the bluff lake nature center here for the super. Blue blood moon eclipse it is about 34 degrees here when I last checked so it’s very chilly but as you can see we’ve got plenty. Of hardcore. Astronomy fans here who have come out they had about. 300 or so people sign ups he will participate here today and with the you could see so the city like to Denver beyond me here were actually up on the top of a very high. Cliff about a hundred feet here and you can see. Maybe Tony can zoom in you can see the moon is. Starting Q disappeared actually turn a little bit red. I had about 550 is when it enters the full shadow of the year here and I don’t know if you could tell but it is actually already starting to turn a little bit red and if you come this way would be only just introduce you to some folks who work. Here very early. Near there are that it had. All right good morning guys. Wanted to introduce you guys. Emerson. And read brother and sister here and Ryan their debt good morning guys or. So tell me you guys were some of the first people we saw here this morning coming up to see this eclipse. How excited are you to see it. My Canadian friends. We have cash CNN. Yeah. And news and what’s it been like watching this here this morning it’s slow in the moon’s been going away. Here saying. I like them. What do you think read more how cool is this many of you have. What do you like about it. Yeah. But guys really couldn you have read this fund now Ryan you brought up this morning was an important commodity. Some really does work. Did you guys are you really are good citizens but learn about all the different phases of the moon at school a hundred futures. It was you’re never going to come out here is. She got all excited about that they hit that community 5 o’clock hour this fact Sterger. Maybe Hillary any they’ve come see this. As good experience and it. They have fun they get a nap time later he. Little nap for a direct. I think you guys into the eclipse attend yeah thanks for chatting with us. Yeah. I got. One guy wanted to introduce you to I’m a big fan of here. See where is there is. He’s still plates because me known as. The bad astronomer on Twitter he also writes for scifi dot com and its best why FYI NSY point and asked by a white dot com arts the bad astronomy column. So it’s been tough on. We’ve been watching the moon slowly disappear this morning. Yes it a lot of fun watching actually I live about an hour north the hearsay coming down in the car. Every couple of minutes I mean cleans out the window and see a little bit more than moon getting eaten up everywhere where are we right now and in the face for almost we are mirror and disclosed being total now we’re starting to see a little bit of the red and don’t go full read it yup pretty soon and live literally a couple of minutes we were talking yesterday it tell me a little bit about why we get this red color. This just. Deep red color. This is what are my favorite parts about the lunar eclipse. There what’s happening is the moon is orbiting the earth and it’s moving into the or shadow mean here at this always blocking the sun from some. Vantage point in space. And it just so happens that the moon is moving into that. So once it’s fully in the or shadow and the mood light itself is very dim the only light that’s hitting the mood is getting filtered through the Earth’s atmosphere. So if you’re standing on the moon and looking up you’re seeing the earth and blocking assignment and your sadness here is going to be lit in a reading all around our planet. Will if you think about the geometry that means that anybody standing in that ring easy we’ve seen the sun rising. The sun setting right and so what you’re seeing is all of the sun rises and all of the sun sets. On the earth. At the same time I checked on them that’s right. And so it to the ring looks Redd just like when the sun is setting it looks thread and that red light is what’s lighting a criminal and that’s why turns the squadron. The incredible now we thought we should explain why this is such a big deal we’ve got three things all coming together which you’re saying I’m not that uncommon in themselves but. We got going on what each releasing happens relatively common vicious that we take all three of them put him together. It’s not got off and the three things are well personal. A lunar eclipse and those happen. A couple of times year on average something like that so it’s not. Uncommon but just doesn’t happen every day right also this is happening when the moon happens to be at the point in its orbit closest to earth incidents cult Perry G. Because the moon orbits the earth on an ellipsis and sometimes as farther away and sometimes closer. And we’re about a day after that so. It happens every damn one out of every ten times something like that so again it’s more rare bright and the third thing is that this is what we call a bloom and Tim nick and right it just means the second full moon in a calendar month. So takes mood about 27 days ago around the earth. And so in January we had a full moon right after new years is announced today on the 31 were getting another full movies as the bloom. But he spent a long time since all three of those things happened at the same time that’s right I’ve been looking around and the last time I can see that this happened. Pretty much like this configuration was a 150 years ago some of civil war era desperate times editors Jonathan Klein president James Robin trains. Long long time. And so this rare. And it’s interesting too because a solar eclipse we saw that in August back in August. But you have to be in a very specific place and stayed at a very specific scientists. At the songs like an eclipse for the rest of us yeah. With a with a solar eclipse the moon is casting its shadow on the earth and that shadows relatively narrow. If you’re not in that shadow you don’t see you don’t sit it you’re a mile outside that shadow to the north or south yet you do you lose an out. So you have to be in a specific place at a specific time. The beauty of a lunar eclipse is that it’s the Earth’s shadow on the moon so if you can see the moon you can see the eclipse. Net of the moon doesn’t care. Which part of the year to spacing and or not it just cares that it’s behind the earth and it blocking the son. So it is just so happens that. United States is more or less facing the moon we get to see in at least break before sunrise. There’s another eclipse in July and we’re facing the wrong way we’re actually going to be a during the day arrest put ice in the sun not to lose we lose it. But then next year again in January. There’ll be even better when wearing the lunar eclipse last all night so frost in the United States we get a perfect view. But for this one pretty much everybody in all fifty states gets a little gets at least some of this a club stature but you gotta be out west are really see the best yet the way it works as it’s happening out in space so it’s happening all at one time so where you are in your time zone. Depends on whether you’re gonna see it or not it’s on the East Coast eclipse is just started when the moon was setting.
