Red ‘supermoon’ eclipse will be visible Sunday night
Just as we head into the dead of winter, skywatchers get a chance to witness one of nature’s most picturesque events, as a larger-than-average full moon undergoes a total eclipse and blushes red this Sunday.
For thousands of years the beauty and mystery surrounding this disappearing act has fascinated cultures around the world, and even today it still amazes. And making it so accessible is that all you need are your unaided eyes to soak in the eclipse, which will be visible even from backyards and bedroom windows within the brightly lit city.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon, Earth and sun line up with us being in the middle. During the eclipse, our planet’s shadow is projected onto the full Moon, slowly darkening its surface until it’s completely covered. With all the traces of direct sunlight gone, the moon will glow a shade of fiery orange for over an hour.
Earth’s own thick atmosphere causes the spectacular colours on the lunar disc. Sunlight shines through our dust-filled air and bends the sunlight towards the red part of the spectrum, resulting in the moon glowing reddish — the same reason we see the sun turn shades of red during sunsets. The moon’s colour can vary significantly from one eclipse to the next and nobody can predict what the next one will look like. It all depends on how much dust is floating around in Earth’s atmosphere at the time.
As long as the skies co-operate and stay at least partially clear on the night of the 20th, expect to first catch sight of the full silvery moon as it rises above the eastern horizon just after sunset. Then the real fun begins at 10:34 p.m., when the first hint of Earth’s shadow touching the moon will signal the start of the eclipse. Over the course of just an hour, an ever-bigger, dark shadowy bite will appear to be taken out of the moon until 11:40 p.m. when totality begins — when Earth’s shadow completely engulfs the lunar disc.
For most onlookers this will be the most intriguing part of this astronomical treat, as the moon dramatically undergoes its colour change. Totality ends at 12:44 a.m. with the partial eclipse finishing at 1:51 a.m., at which time the moon returns to its usual bright silvery self.
Don’t worry about looking at the event with the unaided eye. Unlike solar eclipses, the lunar varieties are safe to watch. And there is no need for special equipment like telescopes. The best views will be with the unaided eye and binoculars.
Adding to the excitement is that this eclipse is occurring as the full moon reaches perigee — it’s as close as it can be to Earth — which is commonly referred to as a supermoon.
While not all that rare of an event, the moon will be 356,000 kilometres distant, making it less than 50,000 km closer than most of the time.