It will then appear with a red tint, known as a blood Moon, as only red light reaches it, a phenomenon which is common during a total lunar eclipse.
Advertisement
On Sunday night the skies will be greeted by a reddish Supermoon and a lunar eclipse, a combination that hasn’t happened for 30 years and won’t happen again until 2033, according to NASA.
It only happens once every 30 years or so – the last one was in 1982.
Supermoons are cool. They occur when the moon is at its closest point to the Earth in its orbit, making it look a little bit bigger – 14 percent larger this time. This means that there have basically been blood moons since there’s been a moon to eclipse. Scientifically this is known as a “lunar tetrad”.
At about 6:11 p.m. Sunday, the eclipse will start to cast a shadow on the moon, according to NASA.
It will be visible across North and South America, Europe, Africa, and parts of West Asia and the eastern Pacific, NASA said.
Mark your calendars for September 27 if you’re on our side of the planet, and September 28 if you’re overseas, because all of us earthlings are in for a treat. The event should end after midnight. For a better view, some parks and planetariums in the United States will be scheduling viewing parties. If the skies are clear, we’ll be able to see the moon turn a blood red early in the evening.
The moon is some 31,000 miles closer to Earth at perigee than at apogee. It is actually three different events rolled into one, and it will be hard to ignore the moon in the sky this weekend.
Advertisement
Many stargazers, professional and amateur alike, dislike the term supermoon, noting that the visible difference between a moon and supermoon is slight to all but the most faithful observers. “It’s not dramatic, but it does look larger”, said NASA’s Noah Petro.
