Off The Record
On January 31st The Moon Is Going To Do Something It Has Not Done In Over 150 Years. Don’t Miss It!
Get ready for this upcoming unique and amazing experience – The Super Blue Blood Moon!
Happening on January 31st, 2018, for the first time in 150 years, you will be able to witness this experience.
To explain it a little better, it is a lunar experience, in which the Earth’s shadow will fully cover up the Moon. This is a unique happening in which the Sun, Earth and Moon happen to all be aligned. Due to refraction of the Sun’s light through the atmosphere, which forces it into the red side of the spectrum, you will be able to witness a Blood Red Moon!
Lunar eclipses can only occur during a Full Moon, but they don’t occur every single Full Moon, since the Earth’s orbit around the Sun and the Moon’s orbit around Earth have little wobbles in them that sometimes prevent a perfect alignment.
Unlike solar eclipses that are only visible only from specific places on Earth, lunar eclipses are visible from any place where it is nighttime. Lunar eclipses don’t occur every month because the plane of the lunar orbit is slightly tilted relative to the plane of the Earth’s orbit, so the Earth, Sun and Moon don’t always line up to put the moon in Earth’s shadow.
Must read: 5 Ways To Harness Extreme Energy Of Each And Every Full Moon
And to explain what makes this a Super Moon is because the Moon orbits our planet on an elliptical path, so there’s a point in its journey that it gets especially up close with the Earth. During this time, it appears to be larger than what it usually is from our point of view, making it seem Super.
For the January 31st lunar eclipse, viewers in some places will not be able to see the entire event because it starts near moonrise or moonset. Lunar eclipses are only visible on Earth’s night side.
It is also called a Blue Moon because it is the second time in one month for a Full Moon to happen. Blue Moons happen really rare. The last one happened in July 2015, but this year we will also get one in March. And for the one happening on January 31st, we might not see a moon that is blue in color, but blood red is still pretty cool!
If you live in the right place, you will be able to see this experience. IFL Science reported that: “In order to enjoy a lunar eclipse you will need to be in the path of totality (which lasts about 77 minutes), just like a solar eclipse. The best places to view it will be central and eastern Asia, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Australia. Parts of North America should also get a glimpse.”
If you live in North America or the Hawaiian Islands, this lunar eclipse will be visible in your sky before sunrise on January 31.
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.
If you live in the Middle East, Asia, Indonesia, Australia or New Zealand, this lunar eclipse will happen in the evening hours after sunset on January 31.
For viewers in New York, it will occur at 9:24 p.m. local time.
People in eastern Europe and western Asia will see something like a mirror image of the eclipse that observers in the Americas will see, because instead of occurring near moonset, the eclipse will start before the moon rises.
Viewers in Moscow will see the moon make a dramatic entrance as it rises while it is still red and deep in the Earth’s shadow. Moonrise there is at 5:01 p.m. local time on January 31, and the moon will reach the edge of the umbra at 5:07 p.m.
Not every place on Earth will see the Blue Moon this month, because the second Full Moon of January won’t technically appear in those places until Feb. 1. These places include regions in eastern Asia and eastern Australia.
The last time a Blue Moon coincided with a total lunar eclipse was on March 31st, 1866. Try not to miss the one happening on January 31st, because the next one will happen on December 31st, 2028 and, after that, on January 31st, 2037.
Make sure to share this with your friends and let us know about your viewing experience of this rare celestial happening!
