Bonnie Tyler may sing about a Total Eclipse of The Heart, but you can view an actual total lunar eclipse Sunday at the University of Saskatchewan Campus Observatory.
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The first full moon after the Fall equinox is called the harvest moon.
Because the moon will also be at its closet point to Earth, it will appear about 13% larger than other full moons.
Regarding the lunar eclipse, Jooste said there were two types.
Earth’s shadow will start moving across the moon at 8:12 p.m. and will be in total eclipse at 10:10 p.m.
“What you’re seeing is the sunlight passing through the Earth’s atmosphere and nearly shining all of the sunsets and sunrises of Earth onto the moon itself. It’s during that period that we see the moon turn a dark brown or orange colour and this is what is often termed a blood moon”. A full lunar eclipse combined with a super moon hasn’t happened since 1982 and won’t happen again until 2033.
“The lunar eclipse can be seen across the whole of Africa”, Jooste said. The Southern Colorado Astronomical Society helped bring moon-watchers together Sunday evening with a big viewing part at the CSU-Pueblo Nature and Raptor Center and observatory.
Photo Credit: Mount Washington Observatory/The images that used for the time-lapse of September 27’s lunar eclipse look like this when put into collage form.
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According to the South African Weather Service, the interior of the country should have mostly clear skies around 3am, while from Cape Town up to Durban cloudy skies might interfere in a clear viewing.
