Lunar Eclipse At Fort St Elmo

 We all heard about the Blood Moon that would be visible from Earth last weekend, set to bring about the end of the world apparently.

Well, I had the wonderful opportunity to go and see such event take place, at one of the most beautiful and historic locations that Malta has to offer – Fort St Elmo.

Above: View at the top of Fort St Elmo

The fort was the place of heroic defence during the Great Siege of 1565.

The Fort has seen continuous use over the centuries, from World War II to the present day. In 1940, at the beginning of the War, Italian airmen were the first to lead an aerial attack on Malta with Fort St Elmo being the main target. Years later, this architectural masterpiece is still being loved and awed at by all who visit there, and they recently hosted a viewing of the July 2018 lunar eclipse and Mars sighting.

The event was a project that was funded and curated by the Valletta 2018 foundation, which is part of the European Capital of Culture programme, which Malta won and is hosting events for this year.  

The last total lunar eclipse visible from Malta occurred on 28th September 2015 and this year, the eclipse occurred on Friday the 27thof July. The partial eclipse phase began at 20:24 local time, with the full phase taking place around an hour after, at 21:30.

The event was in collaboration with the Institute of Space Sciences and Astronomy, the Department of Physics and the Astronomical Society of Malta, Esplora and Heritage Malta, which would allow viewers to witness a full view of the eclipse, with little light pollution.

A number of telescopes were set up on site so that viewers could get further access to witness this beautiful event., through which those attending can also peek at the eclipsed moon. The planet Mars was also visible in the night sky on the day, as the red planet was seen to be close to opposition – the closest point to Earth in its orbit around the Sun.

Above: 'Blood Moon' visible in Malta

This made for a spectacular viewing of this remarkable event and it was very well appreciated, with its turn out being in the hundreds. There was even an area for children towards the back of the fort that related to all things astronomy and space, which made the event probably more so appealing. It was lovely to see the children be so involved and immersed into the event taking place, as many of the children seemed excited to witness what was happening.

In addition to the activities for children, there were also very informative talks and presentations about the eclipse taking place and also the moon and astrology. These talks were also very well received which was lovely to see and the public seemed to be very engaged with what the specialists were discussing.

It was also nice to see that there were different points throughout the fort that people could witness the eclipse, as this allowed for greater fluidity of the event and that no particular area was crowded with people.

Another great addition to the event, was that there was also free water available. Once the visitors had swarmed to the top of the fort, a member of staff gave word that there would be free water for all, at any point during the event. In order to make the event more environmentally friendly, they used paper cups to which people were asked to refill and recycle.

The event was very well organised and made for a great experience for all of those involved. The Valletta 2018 project always seems to provide events that are of a great standard and fluidity.

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