People in Oman set to see a giant red moon today
Today, it will appear up to 15% larger in size, and about 30% brighter than usual
Muscat: Today people of Oman can witness a giant moon after sunset in the eastern horizon, when the moon is closest in its orbit to earth. Omani astronomer Majid bin Mohammed Al Farai, who is also a member of Oman Astronomical Society, stated this on a chat with a news site.
When the moon completes a full rotation around the earth in an elliptical orbit it passes once to the closest point in its orbit around the earth and again at the farthest point.
Today the moon will appear up to 15 per cent larger in size, and about 30 per cent brighter than it normally is. The moon will be at the nearest point to earth at 357,470 km, at 7.25pm Oman time, and will appear reddish or orange due to dust and other particles in the atmosphere around the earth. The normal distance between earth and moon is 384,400km.
Due to the proximity to earth’s atmosphere tonight, the reflected white light will scatter out the blue colours resulting in the presence of the red colour that remains. As both earth and moon move, creating altered height and distance, a silver-tinged moon will emerge again and light up the sky till sun rise the next day.
This phenomenon will happen again on May 26 this year when the moon is a little closer to Earth. This day will also mark the total lunar eclipse, which will not however visible in Oman. The Oman Astronomical Society explained that this phenomenon will not have a significant impact on our planet, except for high tides, which is a normal occurrence on new moon and full moon days.