Capturing a live view of the Milky Way galaxy unexpectedly is not a common thing to happen and is also a once-in-a-blue-moon phenomenon due to the excessive light pollution on Earth. But the recent lunar eclipse showed this thing turning into reality when, all of a sudden, the light coming out from the Earth is hindered by the Sun, which consequently reflects off the moon, and that causes the sky to be darkened, which therefore brings to light the breathtakingly amazing view of our Milky Way galaxy. The whole scene was captured in a time-lapse video by the Gemini Observatory’s All-Sky camera in Hilo, Hawaii. The entire show of the unveiling of the Milky Way Galaxy lasts for about one hour, but due to the time-lapse video, this part is shortened to just three seconds.
This observatory telescope encapsulated this awe-inspiring episode at 5:30 pm, which was the local time in Hawaii. On the other hand, a lot of other photographers took spectacular images of this never before seen happening with their cameras, and one of them even did a panorama shot of both the Milky Way galaxy and the Aurora Borealis in a single shot. Light pollution has become a major hindrance to seeing the Milky Way galaxy frequently, and by conforming to this, a user said, “The Milky Way can be seen most nights in the summer if you’re away from light pollution, and I’m in awe every time I see it.”
The full moon, which is also sometimes referred to as the “Blood Moon”, causes a total lunar eclipse and brightens the night as well. But due to this brightness of the light, which we call light pollution, it would normally become impossible for us to see the Milky Way galaxy, but this time when the Earth’s light is cut out by the Sun, which is then reflected by the Moon, the telescopes mounted at different locations on Earth captured the beautiful view of our Milky Way galaxy.
It is also important to note that an astronaut named “Samantha Cristoforetti” also recorded the entire view with the camera at the International Space Station (ISS). This eye-catching picture below shows the entire convex view of our Milky Way Galaxy with the crimson-red moon located in the center-left of the image.
Thus, by seeing these extravagant fields of vision, the ones who missed this opportunity must be longing for this striking view again. But no worries, we have got another lunar eclipse which is expected to take place on November 8, 2022, and can be easily seen in the United States and some parts of Asia.