Get Moon Gazing: The Year’s Second Total Lunar Eclipse Will Be Visible from Beijing, Nov 8

It’s time for a bit of amateur star gazing – or a few candid photos of the moon, if that’s your thing – with a total lunar eclipse to be visible from Beijing around 7pm local time on Nov 8 (tomorrow night).

For those of us who didn’t pay attention in science class, a total lunar eclipse is when the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon and its shadow covers the Moon, according to timeanddate.com.

This is the second total lunar eclipse of the year, according to Space.com, with the first having taken place from May 15-16, 2022. That eclipse was visible in portions of the Americas, Antarctica, Europe, Africa and the East Pacific.

These days, eclipses are just seen as what they are – celestial phenomenon which happen to be eye opening to look at. Back in ancient China, though, they weren't taken so lightly.

It was believed that during solar and lunar eclipses a 天狗 tiāngǒu (aka “heavenly dog”) would attempt to devour the sun or moon (thus giving them the name 日食 rishi 月食 yuèshí – "sun devouring" and "moon devouring").

Thus, a tradition was made of trying to scare away the tiangou by making a whole lot of noise. This meant banging gongs, pots, pans or anything else to get it to stop eating.

Whether or not you believe this eclipse is due to a heavenly dog trying to eat the moon or just a nice red moon, be sure you don’t miss it come tomorrow!

READ: A Platform for Viewing the Heavens: Beijing's Ancient Observatory

Images: Unsplash