Total lunar eclipse meets supermoon
Here comes a total lunar eclipse and supermoon, all wrapped into one.
The moon, Earth and sun will line up for the only total lunar eclipse this year and next. At the same time, the moon will be ever so closer to Earth and appear slightly bigger and brighter than usual — a supermoon.
“This one is particularly good,” said Rice University astrophysicist Patrick Hartigan. “It not only is a supermoon and it’s a total eclipse, but the total eclipse also lasts pretty long. It’s about an hour.”
The whole eclipse starts on Monday and will take about three hours.
It begins with the partial phase around 4.34pm NZT. That’s when Earth’s shadow will begin to nip at the moon. Totality — when Earth’s shadow completely blankets the moon — will last 62 minutes, beginning at 5.41pm.
Unfortunately, the only Kiwis who will get to see it will be tourists. New Zealand, Asia and Australia are out of luck this time. New Zealanders had prime viewing last year, when two total lunar eclipses occurred.
If the skies are clear, the entire eclipse will be visible in North and South America, as well as Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Portugal and the French and Spanish coasts. The rest of Europe, as well as Africa, will have partial viewing before the moon sets.
During totality, the moon will look red because of sunlight scattering off Earth’s atmosphere. That’s why an eclipsed moon is sometimes known as a blood moon. In January, the full moon is also sometimes known as the wolf moon or great spirit moon.
So informally speaking, the upcoming lunar eclipse will be a super blood wolf — or great spirit — moon.
In the US the eclipse will begin relatively early in the evening, making it easier for children to stay up and enjoy the show. Plus the next day is a federal holiday, with most schools closed. But the weather forecast for much of the US doesn’t look good.
Hartigan, who will catch the lunar extravaganza from Houston, said: “It’s fairly rare to have all these things kind of come together at the same time. The good thing about this is that you don’t need any special equipment.”
The next total lunar eclipse won’t be until May 2021.
As for full-moon supermoons, this will be the first of three this year.
The upcoming supermoon will be about 357,300km away.
The February 19 supermoon will be a bit closer and one in March will be the farthest.