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Tonight: A Supermoon Lunar Eclipse

Explanation: Tonight a bright full Moon will fade to red. Tonight's moon will be particularly bright because it is reaching its fully lit phase when it is relatively close to the Earth in its elliptical orbit. In fact, by some measures of size and brightness, tonight's full Moon is designated a supermoon, although perhaps the "super" is overstated because it will be only a few percent larger and brighter than the average full Moon. However, our Moon will fade to a dim red because it will also undergo a total lunar eclipse -- an episode when the Moon becomes completely engulfed in Earth's shadow. The faint red color results from blue sunlight being more strongly scattered away by the Earth's atmosphere. Tonight's moon can also be called a Harvest Moon as it is the full Moon that occurs closest to the September equinox, a time signaling crop harvest in Earth's northern hemisphere. Total eclipses of supermoons are relatively rare -- the last supermoon lunar eclipse was in 1982, and the next will be in 2033. Tonight's supermoon total eclipse will last over an hour and be best visible from eastern North America after sunset, South America in the middle of the night, and Western Europe before sunrise.

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Very, very interesting

Somebody needs to tell the NASA illustrator who produced the neat little video that the moon doesn't move south to north. Check out the video at about the 29-30 second mark.

Artistic and clever!

When someone WATCHES a lunar eclipse, a common question is why the shadow goes from left to right. They expect the moon to rise in the east and go through our shadow, and thus the shadow overtake the moon from the right. This video perpetuates that erroneous thought pattern. The moon takes ~ a month to go right-to-left around the earth (as seen from common solar system diagrams, viewed from 'above' the north pole). The video makes it look like the moon orbits from south to north (with the image of Africa front and center), and then it has the moon circling clockwise, instead of the real CCW direction. I wish that sequence could be edited. Maybe start from above the equator, then pan to above the north pole, and then have the moon go in the correct CounterClockWise direction. This APOD site is too good and seen by too many people to skimp on this fact.

You know APOD didn't create this video, yes?

waterfall007 wrote:When someone WATCHES a lunar eclipse, a common question is why the shadow goes from left to right.

Also important to emphasize that "left" and "right" are generally meaningless when discussing views of the sky, and the direction that shadows appear to move.

The video suggested that Supermoon+Lunar Eclipse occurred in 1910, 1928, 1946, 1964, and 1982 with a regularity of 18 years. So will the next one. But can anyone explain why tonight's event took 33 years?

Stupor Moon...

ks8661 wrote:The video suggested that Supermoon+Lunar Eclipse occurred in 1910, 1928, 1946, 1964, and 1982 with a regularity of 18 years. So will the next one. But can anyone explain why tonight's event took 33 years?

It seems the previous ones were part of Saros 129 cycle which then went out of phase because in year 2000 July total Saros 129 eclipse the moon was close to apogee. The year 2015 eclipse of this night belongs to Saros 137 series. Saros 137 will produce perigee close eclipses also with an 18 year cycle in October 2033, October 2051, October 2069, and November 2087 this century. Each of these will be slightly more distant from perigee (this year it will be the closest).

Tekija wrote:

ks8661 wrote:
The video suggested that Supermoon+Lunar Eclipse occurred in 1910, 1928, 1946, 1964, and 1982 with a regularity of 18 years. So will the next one. But can anyone explain why tonight's event took 33 years?

It seems the previous ones were part of Saros 129 cycle which then went out of phase because in year 2000 July total Saros 129 eclipse the moon was close to apogee. The year 2015 eclipse of this night belongs to Saros 137 series. Saros 137 will produce perigee close eclipses also with an 18 year cycle in October 2033, October 2051, October 2069, and November 2087 this century. Each of these will be slightly more distant from perigee (this year it will be the closest).

• However...there was not a 33 year gap between super moons:

http://www.space.com/30427-supermoon-total-lunar-eclipse-september-video.html wrote:

Bruce McCurdy · University of Alberta wrote:
<<The article cites the last "supermoon" eclipse occurring in 1982, but appears to miss that of 1997 Sep 16, when a total lunar eclipse occurred within 4 hours of the Moon's closest perigee of the year.>>

http://www.universetoday.com/122368/sunday-night-getting-ready-for-a-super-harvest-blood-moon-total-lunar-eclipse/ wrote:
Sunday Night: Getting Ready For a ‘Super-Harvest-Blood-Moon Total Lunar Eclipse’
by David Dickinson on September 24, 2015

<<And speaking of the next perigee Moon total lunar eclipse for saros 137 on October 8th, 2033… if you catch that one, this weekend’s, and saw the September 16th, 1997 lunar eclipse which spanned the Indian Ocean region, you’ll have completed an exeligmos, or a triple saros of eclipses in the same series 54 years and 33 days in length, an exclusive club among eclipse watchers and a great word to land on a triple letter word score in Scrabble…>>

Saw the eclipse earlier. A rather dark one this time, could barely see the moon's disc during maximum eclipse.
Took plenty of photos which turned out well.

Sorry if this is a bit self serving, but this super moon eclipse will always hold a special place for me. You see, the dates for the series of late were 1964 (the year I was born), 1982 (the year I graduated high school), then September 27, 2015 (MY BIRTHDAY!). I have been going blind for the last decade and haven't seen a star directly with my own eyes in all that time. I recently had a cornea transplant in time to be healed enough to be able to see this eclipse and the very dark effect of the sky created by the eclipse made it possible for me to see stars with my own eyes for the first time in well over a decade.

It may just be an astronomical coincidence of interest to most; but it left me weeping! Thanks APOD for giving me a heads up that this was happening in time for me to see it!

Congrats on seeing the night again, Pianos. I'm sure night vision has many benefits besides seeing eclipses and stars but none quite as special.