Singapore was treated to another natural phenomenon — a literal red moon — on Sep. 1, 2023, just one day after the Blue Moon supermoon.
Red moon
Several star gazers witnessed the unusual red moon that was clearly visible over Singapore and shared photos with Mothership and on Facebook.
If you missed it, here are some photos:
Image by Jocelyn Yuin Sin Aw from CloudSpotting & SkySpotting Singapore/Facebook.
Image by Jocelyn Yuin Sin Aw from CloudSpotting & SkySpotting Singapore/Facebook.
Image courtesy of Mothership reader.
Image courtesy of Mothership reader.
Image courtesy of Mothership reader.
Image from Xiaohongshu.
Image from Xiaohongshu.
Not to be confused with blood moon
The red moon on Sep. 1 night is not to be confused with a blood moon.
A blood moon occurs during a total lunar eclipse, when the moon falls within the darkest part of Earth's shadow — the umbra — and turns a reddish hue, hence, its name, according to Nasa.
The moon is actually off-white brown-gray in colour when its dusty surface is sunlit, according to National Geographic.
Why moon changes colour?
However, the moon can be viewed in different colours and even shapes because of the Earth’s atmosphere.
The different colours appear when the moon is viewed through stratified and irregular gas layers of Earth’s atmospheric blanket.
Tiny air molecules in the layers scatter light that hits them, and their structure causes blue light to scatter more readily than red or orange.
This, in turn, allows the red, orange, and yellow light to pass through.
In the Sep. 1 instance, the moon appeared red as it was likely near the horizon, according to Nasa.
Other particles in the atmosphere also influence the path of light and affect the moon's colour as seen by the human eye.
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Top image by Jocelyn Yuin Sin Aw from CloudSpotting & SkySpotting Singapore/Facebook.