Red Moon [Melbourne Australia]

Just got home from a cafe and noticed that the moon was as red as my blood time is 11:49pm. it has lost its red colour abit since i first observed it.

i have taken some photos on my phone camera which are realy no good. but will put up as soon as i can

but any one in melbourne please go outside and take a look at the moon. if you have a camera take a photo or two also

also why would it be such a red colour. any one with moon knowledge i would like to know.

iv never seen it so red in my life. unbeleivable

Smoke from all the bush fires.

Can look quite impressive.

Is it near the horizon or is it above or somewhere above the horizon?

reply to post by gate13


I will just take a wild stab in the dark and say it has something to do with the bushfires.
the mixture of ash and smoke probably?

look i was thinking fires also.

but its nearly in the middle of the sky . not low on the horizon.

smoke is a grey colour so how does this red effect happen.

it looks amazing to be honest

reply to post by gate13


The dust, has the property of absorbing light based on its chemical nature. And so, all the light from the moon is absorbed, except for the red wavelength as it is in the far end of the spectrum and is not absorbed, thereby making it look red.

[edit on February 13th, 2009 by peacejet]

thanks for explaining that for me

here is a pic i found on another site. not so clear and doesnt show how red it really is

[edit on 13-2-2009 by gate13]

reply to post by gate13

Could you link to the page instead.
You've linked to the blank copyright protection pic.

I've seen the moon red a few times after some wildfires around here.

Looks cool, but nothing out of the ordinary.

www.youtube.com...

here is a youtube clip of the red moon good quality

The other time a moon goes red its during a total lunar eclipse but as thats not it im going for bushfires or raised dust in the atmosphere. It does look pretty though when in its full glory

I live in England and i remember when we had a red moon and we never had any fires. i later found out the next day that there had been an eclipse over night here and thats what caused the moon to go red, now if memory serves, there were a 'Penumbral eclipse' on the 9th february which could have caused the red moon.

i do apologize if the dates arent the same but that is my explanation of the red moon.

I'm in Tasmania and I noticed this too..

It was strange...

the odd ting about all this is.

i looked at many media outlets here in melbourne.

-2 papers
-Herald sun and The age.
-a few news stations.
-news websites

and couldnt fnd anything about it which i found a little strange.

i would have thought some one would have mentioned it.

Not so sure about the bush fires -
I noticed here in the UK the other day the Moon was hugh and red in the sky
I almost mistaked it for the SUN but i could look directly at at.
Should have took a pic.