Just after 8am tomorrow, New Zealanders living in southern parts of the country will get the chance to see a selenelion - a rare eclipse.
Professor Richard Easther from the University of Auckland explained to TVNZ1’s Breakfast that a selenelion occurs when the moon is in Earth’s shadow but can still be seen from Earth.
Professor Easther agreed that the occurrence sounds impossible given that the sun, Earth and moon must be in a straight line but it occurs “because the light from the sun is bent a little bit by the Earth’s atmosphere, particularly when it’s close to the horizon.”
“The tricky thing is that every day the sun rises a little bit earlier and sets a little bit later that it really does.
“So that means the moon is kind of jacked up a little bit in the sky relative to where it is and the sun likewise is peeping up over the horizon a little early.
“It gives you a couple of minutes when both of them will be in the sky at the same time.”
Professor Easther said the eclipse will be visible in southern parts of the South Island and the moon will appear a deep red for those able to see it.
“On one horizon, you’d see the rising sun and on the other you would see the eclipsed moon which means that it would be deep red because it’s only seeing the light that comes through the Earth’s atmosphere,” he said.
“For that you should be in a place that has a good view of both the eastern and western horizon.
“The eclipse is visible over the whole world, the fact that it’s going to be visible in Otago or in the South Island is special to that eclipse.”
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