How to see it: Fortunately, anyone will be able to see the supermoon as long as the sky is clear where they are, NASA says.īut whether you can see the total lunar eclipse - when the moon will turn a blood red - is another story. Supermoons are more common - they typically occur several times a year. In the past 10 years, there have been just nine total lunar eclipses. The biggest draw of this celestial event is that a supermoon and a total lunar eclipse are occurring simultaneously.
The moon's red hue is caused by red-orange light refracted through Earth's atmosphere and can appear even redder if there are more clouds or dust in Earth's atmosphere, according to NASA. This will be the first total lunar eclipse since 2019. Why it's "blood": On Wednesday morning, the moon will also appear blood red as it aligns with the sun and Earth and passes fully into Earth's shadow, or umbra. According to The Old Farmer's Almanac, the name is a reference to the flowers that are blooming in May and has been attributed to Native American, Colonial American and European sources.
LUNAR ECLIPSE 2019 TEXAS FULL
Why it's "flower": Full moons that occur in May are sometimes known as flower moons. When a full moon reaches the point closest to our planet on its elliptical orbit, it's called a supermoon, or perigee-syzygy, and appears larger than usual in the sky. Why it's "super": The shape of the moon's orbit around the Earth is not a perfect circle, but an oval. can catch a spectacular view of the moon Wednesday morning before sunrise, but what you'll be able to see will depend largely on where you live. The supermoon will be visible all over the world, and the full lunar eclipse will be visible in many parts of the world, including the western United States.Įarly risers in the U.S. The lengthy name is the result of a few astronomical phenomena coming together at once. Watchers of the night sky are in for a treat this week with the arrival of what has been dubbed a Super Flower Blood Moon.
The total lunar eclipse will be visible everywhere in the Pacific and Mountain time zones, as well as in Texas, Oklahoma, western Kansas, Hawaii and Alaska. People were bathed in red light to protect their night vision as they signed into the viewing.This map shows the visibility of the total lunar eclipse in the contiguous U.S. The next lunar eclipse that will be visible in Texas will occur in the early morning hours. Miller encouraged others to experience a lunar eclipse, calling it “something you don’t see every day.” “Coming out here to the middle of nowhere basically, you get a much crisper view.” “The last time I watched an eclipse was in a very light polluted area,” Miller said. Chase Miller, a TAMUC student, said even though this was not his first time observing an eclipse, it was his first time to observe an eclipse without outside interference. While this lunar eclipse may have a first for some, that was the case for every attendee. “Every moon during a calendar year has names assigned by ancient people or other cultures, and the first full moon of the year in some stories – I’m not sure which culture – is called the wolf moon,” Dr. Williams said, and he noted that the size difference is not significant. “This moon is sometimes referred to as a ‘super moon’ because as the Moon goes around the Earth, sometimes it’s slightly closer to Earth, sometimes slightly further away, and when it’s slightly closer, it looks larger,” Dr. The “blood” part comes from the red tinge. Telescopes and binoculars set up around the observatory allowed attendees to get a closer look at the “super blood wolf moon”, the unofficial name given to it by the public. “If you were on the Moon looking back at the Earth during an eclipse, you’d be seeing every single sunrise and sunset at the same time, and since sunrise and sunset have an orange light, that colors the Moon orange.” “As light from the Sun goes through Earth’s atmosphere, it gets bent, and red light has the easiest time going through Earth’s atmosphere,” Dr. Any light reaching the Earth’s atmosphere would then be scattered, but red light manages to break through, creating a lunar eclipse’s signature reddish color. “We thought the cold weather would keep many people away, but it didn’t.”Ī lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into Earth’s shadow, blocking the sunlight that normally lights up its surface. Kurtis Williams, astronomy professor and attendee, said. “The turnout was a lot more than we expected,” Dr. Well over 100 people gathered at the A&M-Commerce Observatory and withstood the cold to witness a total lunar eclipse, or “super blood wolf moon”, Jan. Photo Courtesy | A&M-Commerce Observatory JanuThe “super blood wolf moon,” or lunar eclipse, reached totality at 10:41 p.m.
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