Eclipse Sunday Evening, September 27

(A "Heads Up" from Roy Bishop)

Sunday evening there is a total eclipse of the Moon. Several circumstances make it an event not to be missed:

A total lunar eclipse conveniently placed in a clear, relatively warm, evening sky is rare, occurring only a very few times in a lifetime.

1. The weather forecast indicates a clear sky Sunday evening.

2. It is the annual Harvest Moon, the full Moon closest to the autumnal equinox.

3. From Nova Scotia, the entire eclipse will be visible, with the Moon well above the horizon.

4. Simultaneous with the eclipse, the Moon will be especially close to Earth, making it appear as large as is possible.
Technical version: The Moon's orbit around Earth is an ellipse, and Sunday evening the Moon is at perigee. A particularly close perigee accompanies syzygy because of the tidal influence of the Sun on the lunar orbit.
Media hype version: It will be a SuperMoon, a blood-red SuperMoon because of the eclipse!


5. The last total lunar eclipse visible in a clear evening sky from our area was on February 20, 2008, but that night the temperature was 8 degrees below zero!  The next total lunar eclipse conveniently placed in the evening sky will not occur until 2029 June 25. The chance of a clear sky that evening is about 1 in 3.
The next total lunar eclipse visible from Nova Scotia is sooner, on January 20, 2019, but unlike the one Sunday evening, it occurs after midnight, the night has a 1 in 3 chance of being clear, and it will be cold. Thus, even if the sky is clear, most people will not make the effort to see the 2019 eclipse.

Moon schedule Sunday evening:

Moonrise 6:56 p.m.
Moon begins to enter Earth's penumbral shadow  9:12 p.m.. (not detectable)
Moon begins to enter Earth's umbral shadow  10:07 p.m. (obvious)
Moon entirely within the umbra  11:11 p.m. (total eclipse begins)
Moon begins to leave the umbra  12:23 a.m. (total eclipse ends)
Moon clear of the umbra  1:27 a.m.
Moon clear of the penumbra  2:22 a.m.

The prettiest part of the eclipse will be from 11:00 to 11:15 p.m. as the Moon approaches totality. A repeat performance, but in reverse order, occurs from about 12:15 to 12:30 a.m. Use binoculars, and share the view with a child (Celestial rarity and beauty should have priority over a child's usual bedtime.)

Pasted from the Blomidon Naturalists Society.