By the later afternoon hours, the clouds will slowly begin to thin out. There will be a total lunar eclipse, the closest full moon of the year, the harvest moon and the completion of the tetrad, the fourth in a series of four lunar eclipses back to back. The last one hit in 1982, and the next one won’t happen until 2033 – so set your calendars now.
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The forecasters aren’t too optimistic it will be clear enough to see here in West Michigan.
The planetarium, at the city municipal center, 312 Cedar Road, will hold an outdoor viewing session from 8 p.m. until 11:30 p.m. Astronomy clubs are expected to bring telescopes for public use.
Sky News weather producer Joanne Coles said: “As high pressure continues to dominate across the British Isles, most places will have a good chance of seeing the supermoon-lunar eclipse during the early hours of Monday morning”. This means that the moon, sun, and Earth will all be aligned, so the moon will pass through the Earth’s shadow. The moon will start moving into shadow at about 9:07pm Eastern time, and will be entirely in shadow and tinted red at 10:11pm for about 72 minutes.
There have been just five supermoon lunar eclipses since 1900 and the next won’t happen until 2033.
When the moon is 220,000 miles away, it is called a supermoon because it looks brighter and much larger than usual. What is a supermoon lunar eclipse?
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First, remember that the moon will be on its closest point with the earth as it makes its orbit this weekend. This particular event is actually the result of three rare phenomena occurring simultaneously. Here’s how you can see it for yourself. It appears 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter in the sky, according to NASA. During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon turns a deep rusty red colour due to sunlight being scattered by the Earth’s atmosphere.
