2019 lunar eclipse: 5 things to know about the 'super blood wolf moon'
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
This weekend, a total lunar eclipse will give skywatchers a chance to see the moon turn a dull red as it slips into Earth’s shadow.
The eclipse, which will occur overnight on Jan. 20-21, will be the first lunar eclipse of the year and the last total lunar eclipse until 2021. It will be visible in North and South America as well as parts of western Europe and Africa.
January’s full moon is sometimes dubbed a “wolf moon” in the folklore tradition because it occurs at a time of year when hungry wolves howled outside villages . And since the moon will be at its closest point to Earth in its elliptical orbit around our planet this weekend, it will be a “supermoon.” As a result of these special cases — and because lunar eclipses are also known as "blood moons" — some are calling this eclipse a “super blood wolf moon.”
During a lunar eclipse , sunlight falling on the surface of the moon is blocked by Earth as it passes between the sun and the moon. As the shadow starts to fall on the lunar surface, it looks as if a bite has been taken out of the moon — a phase known as a partial eclipse.
This weekend, the partial eclipse will begin at 10:33 p.m. ET. Totality, when the moon reddens as it slips completely within Earth's shadow, will follow at 11:41 p.m. ET.
Here are five things to know about the eclipse.
1. Though this will be a supermoon lunar eclipse, you probably won’t be able to tell. Since a supermoon appears only a tiny bit bigger in the night sky than a moon at other points in its orbit, this eclipse won't appear appreciably different than others.
“If you take a baseball and tennis ball, set them side by side and look at them from a distance of about 25 feet, they’ll look pretty similar,” said Patrick Hartigan, an astrophysicist at Rice University in Houston. “That’s about the difference between the largest possible supermoon and the smallest possible moon.”
2. You don’t need any special gear. While watching a solar eclipse requires special protective glasses , lunar eclipses can be safely viewed with the naked eye.
“If you have binoculars or a small telescope, you might get a better view, but you don’t really need any of those things,” Hartigan said, adding that this is one skywatching experience that's great for children.
“I would really encourage it,” he said. “This is a fun natural phenomenon and a good way to illustrate geometry and motions in the sky, so it’s a lovely educational experience for kids.”
3. If you were on the moon during the eclipse, the view would be out of this world. Lunar eclipses are dramatic events when viewed from here on Earth. Viewed from the moon, they're even more spectacular.
If you were standing on the moon as Earth began to block the sun's light, darkness would fall around you. But if you looked up, you'd see a ring of light in the darkened sky , as sunlight illuminated the rim of atmosphere surrounding Earth's disk, according to the Lunar and Planetary Institute. In essence, you'd be seeing a solar eclipse.
4. If you miss this one, you won’t be able to see another total lunar eclipse until 2021. The next total lunar eclipse visible in the U.S. will occur on May 26, 2021. Another total lunar eclipse visible in the U.S. will occur on May 16, 2022.
Like this weekend’s eclipse, both of these eclipses will feature supermoons — though totality for the 2021 event won't arrive until the early morning hours.
“If you miss both of these, and you want a supermoon, and you want it to be in the early evening, you’re going to have to wait until 2050,” Hartigan said.
5. Like all solar and lunar eclipses, this one acts a bit like a time machine. Lunar and solar eclipses occur in cycles, and each eclipse differs subtly in the way Earth, the sun and the moon are aligned. This means each eclipse is essentially identical to others that have occurred previously.
Observing this weekend's lunar eclipse is similar to observing "one that was happening long ago in historical times," Hartigan said.
Hartigan said this weekend’s total lunar eclipse is part of a cycle of lunar eclipses that began on Oct. 25, 1874 . The last identical one occurred on Jan. 9, 2001, and the next identical one will occur Jan. 31, 2037. Identical eclipses will occur every 18 years until July 26, 2325, when the cycle ends.
“These eclipses go back long before the dawn of the written word, and they’ll go all the way into the future,” Hartigan said. “Who knows what this world will be like in 2325? Maybe they’ll think back to us in 2019 — if there are even still humans around.”
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Hope it's not to cloudy to see it, won't mind going out in the cold for a little bit
BRrrr
I'm fortunate I have a picture window in my bedroom with a nightly view of the moon at bedtime.
Now to be able to sleep in all the extra light...
lol I'm sure I'll manage
It has started. Your picture window needs to be on your roof, the moon is almost straight up here in Michigan. It's -5 w/a windchill of -18 but clear as a bell.
LOL, Thanks, I checked. Yep the moon is just over where I could see it laying in bed. It must be earlier than usual as well, cause many nights I can see the moon laying in bed and it's later than this. BTW I live down in Phoenix and its only 8:40 here now.
I can still see it good out the window if I stand at the window and look out and up but we are having some cloud cover so it's not real clear here tonight anyway.
Thanks for reminding me or I would have missed it altogether.
lol
I'm sitting on the floor, pressed up against my French doors. I'll have to go outside to see shortly.
LOL
I poked my head out and checked it out, the clouds are too thick to see it well at all, its just a big white blur here and only about half is visible at all. Darn. I'll check a little later hopefully the clouds clear some.
Yay! Found a better window.
It's partly cloudy and windy here. Clear view one second, cloud the next.
Really? Eastern sky here.
A twinkling full moon how unusual !
It depends on the time of year, the full moon travels opposite the sun, when the sun is low in the winter the full moon is high and when the sun is high in the summer the full moon is low. Also the moon runs high and low during its orbit which sometimes during winter it can be straight overhead in Michigan even though the sun never gets that high even in summer.
Did I mention I'm in Michigan.
LOL.. Yea, DUuu I should have thought of that.
LOL at myself.
You will see it before me.
We will see it at the same time, just the further east the higher in the sky.
Ok teacher. haha
Heavy Clouds here with occasional fast moving small breaks. No rain at least.
Saw nothing until it was past totality, 2/3rds coverage, so no blood moon for me. Then it was covered by clouds again.
I'll just have to remember the one I saw back in 2010.....
I'm looking forward to it. I just have to hope it clears up here.
I've been hoping that we were going to have clear skies so I could take it in also, but alas it is not to be, they are claiming it's going to rain all night. It's been unseasonably warm here so far a very mild winter. The rains we usually don't get till march have already arrived. Heck the grass has started to grow again.
I really wanted to see this one as at full eclipse it will be directly overhead.... in my back yard it's like an amphitheater for sky shots.
Still hoping but doubtful.....
Getting close to half way here.
bout a third up here. But light clouds .. Phoenix
Getting there. I can see a tint in it now. About 3/4
We are lucky, clear skies.
Clear skies here. Eclipse is 50%. No red though.
Almost complete, the stars that are usually washed out by the full moon are visible now and the moon is a deep red.
Doesn't look red to me.
It has a reddish tint to it here.
OK, kind of a dark reddish orange.
Makes it look like a small planet instead of the moon.
Now I'm seeing that. Not earlier.
95% red now.
Damn. I've got no red.
Also it is -6 w/a windchill of -19.
About a fingernail left here.
Been out in cold to see it several times, wind is moving the clouds right fast. Hiding moon then it pops out. Worth going out to see
For a few seconds, maybe
Its GONE !
O probably under the clouds.
LOL
Still a sliver.
Cloudy in Arizona...
Yep the moon is petty well cloud covered here in Phoenix tonight,
Aww, sorry.
Sorry about that, looks to be as far as it's going to go, so I'm calling it for tonight, no sense risking frostbite just to see it in reverse from now on.
Ok, had to...
Bonnie Tyler or nothing.
Come on man, dude has some chops.
Well it was pretty. And Kavika didn't show as a ghost wolf. So all is ok.
I swear I never saw a total. Maybe I missed it.
You didn't miss it, the moon passed into the full shadow of the earth, but skirted the edge of it. You may have noticed that the lightest area slowly changed position as the eclipse progressed. To someone living on the moon as we are on earth the sun appears as the same size to both, but on earth the moon is the same size as the sun, as for someone living on the moon though the earth is many times larger than the sun and casts a huge shadow.
Here's a shot from 11:06pm CST. It was four below.
300mm; f/11; ISO 400; 3.2 sec