Super Blue Moon After 150 Years

Super Blue Blood Moon in the Sky After 150 Years

Eclipse

1. Get ready to witness a rare celestial spectacle on the last day of January as the moon enters a phase of total eclipse aligning perfectly with the sun. Get ready for another rare celestial event when, for the first time in 150 years, a total lunar eclipse will occur during a blue moon. It’s the grand finale of a trilogy of supermoons that have been taking place since early December.

2. So just what are we in store for on January 31, 2018, when the eclipse will take place? In order to understand the significance, we first need to take apart the different phenomena that will align in the sky. A supermoon is a full moon that occurs when the Moon is at its closest point of orbit around the Earth. December 3 was the first in a series of three supermoons, and was the only one of 2017. Due to their relatively close position to Earth, supermoons appear 14% bigger and 30% brighter than regular full moons.

3. But we’re not just talking about a supermoon here. The January 31 Supermoon will have a total lunar eclipse visible over western North America and Eastern Asia. On January 31st, the moon is all set to turn orange. According to NASA "“the Moon will lose its brightness and take on an eerie, fainter-than-normal glow from the scant sunlight that makes its way through Earth’s atmosphere. Often cast in a reddish hue because of the way the atmosphere bends the light, totally eclipsed Moons are sometimes called "blood Moons.”

4. If that wasn’t interesting enough, the stars have aligned to stack one more unique feature—a blue moon. Having nothing to do with the Moon’s color, a blue moon is defined as a second full moon in the same calendar month (the January 31 moon follows the supermoon of January 1). And now you can see why the January 31 event is so unique, stacking three rare occurrences together. In fact, you can call it a super blue blood moon.

5. On average, blue moons appear once every two and a half years, and while they occur much more frequently than a total solar eclipse, the last time a super blue blood moon took place was in 1866. So where do you have to be to see the special event? In North America, Hawaii and Alaska will get the best views. “The lunar eclipse on January 31 will be visible during moonset.

6. This will be the second full moon of the month, also called the 'Blue Moon' and the first eclipse in the new year. Also termed 'Blood Moon', the eclipse will be visible in large parts of US, northeastern Europe, Russia, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific, and Australia.

Questions & Answers

1. How will it be like for different parts of the world?

Alaska, Hawaii and northwestern Canada will see the eclipse from start to finish. Moonset will intervene for the rest of North and Central America, however.

Central and eastern Asia, Indonesia, New Zealand and most of Australia will get a fine view of this Moon show in the evening sky.

The Pacific Ocean will be turned towards the Moon at the time and the eclipse will take place during the middle of the night.

For the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, the eclipse will already be underway as the Moon rises.

2. When will the next total lunar eclipse take place? After this year, total lunar eclipses will be on December 31, 2028, and, after that, on January 31, 2037.

3. What is the duration of the event? The duration of the total event is approximately 77 minutes, with the moon tracking through the southern part of the Earth's shadow. During totality, the Moon's lower limb will appear much brighter than the dark upper limb.

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Prepared by Major (R) Md. Lutful Huda, presently Chairman of TIDAC and Dreamwork Limited, Chief Editor of 'Crime and Judgement' Magazine