SuperMoon Eclipses And Wet News From Mars

Collage of photos I took of the 27 September 2015 Super Blood Moon.

(click on image to see a larger version)

On Sunday night we were treated with a fairly rare combination of a SuperMoon (when the Moon is at its closest distance from Earth at the time of the full Moon) and a total lunar eclipse (when the Moon moves into Earth's shadow.  A supermoon is 'super' because it appears larger than most full moons.  A lunar eclipse is sometimes referred to as a Blood Moon  as it takes on an orangish-reddish color.  So, put these two things together and you get a Super Blood Moon.  Above is a collage of pictures I took off our deck during the CSI Finale commercial breaks.  The pictures came out better than I expected.

The second astronomical news in the last two days was the NASA discovery of evidence of flowing water on the surface of Mars.  Life as we know it requires liquid water to survive so the existence of liquid water on Mars is a promising step towards the future discovery of alien life.  The discovery of life, when it comes, will potentially be the most important discovery in history and life, as we know it, will change forever.

I love astronomy and these are exciting times we live in.