“The moon is close to the horizon to create a good photo,” one expert exclaims

A full lunar eclipse takes place overnight from Sunday to Monday. The moon will begin to enter the Earth’s shadow at 4:27 am, and the peak phase is predicted at 5:28 am, but the peak of the eclipse will occur at 6:11 am, with the moon already setting in Paris. If France did not benefit from the whole event, then Philippe Henerez, editor-in-chief of Ciel magazine & Space, Sunday Hope in France Info “Take a good picture“Thank you for this moon”Near the horizon“.

franceinfo: Where are you going to see this full lunar eclipse that we can’t see in France?

Philip Henerez: Above the Pyrenees chain, I’m going to climb a cliff in the Corbyce Massif to pick up the moon with the west / southwest horizon. So, we can not see the whole part of the eclipse from France, but we will start to see all the partial positions from 4:30 am to 5:29 am, where we will be completely in the shade. Of the earth but still above the horizon. You can try to keep the landscape elements at the same time as the moon to take a good photo. There may even be interesting places in Paris or elsewhere in France like the Eiffel Tower or another monument in the foreground. We invite everyone to refer to Ciel & Espace and share their photos on social media.

Should precautions be taken with special glasses?

No, because unlike solar eclipses, there is no danger to the eye. There is no risk of burning your eyes. The moon reflects the light of the sun, and as it gradually enters the shadow of the earth, it reflects very little. It takes on this copper color because only a few red rays of the sun, deflected by the Earth’s atmosphere, strike it. An aesthetic event to watch!

Is the eclipse useful for making observations that cannot be made at any other time?

Some are, but some are! For example, there are two observatories in the world, including one in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, which has telescopes with lasers sent to the moon. In the 1970s, astronauts from the Apollo missions placed reflectors on the moon’s surface to reflect these laser beams and measure the exact distance between the Earth and the Moon to the nearest centimeter. There, the luminosity will be much weaker and suddenly the reflection of the lasers will be better. The interest of these calculations is to measure the long-term evolution of the Moon’s orbit relative to the Earth.