Tonight's Dazzling 'Supermoon' Lunar Eclipse: What You'll See

An anonymous reader writes: Astronomers are gearing up to spot a rare phenomenon, as a lunar eclipse coincides with a so-called "supermoon". Whether you think it marks the beginning of the apocalypse or is just a neat thing to look at tonight, Live Science has some tips and a timetable for best viewing in your area. The moon enters Earth's full shadow, called the umbra, starting at 9:07 p.m. EDT (6:07 p.m. PDT). The total eclipse begins at 10:11 p.m. EDT (7:11 p.m. PDT). Totality lasts an hour and 12 minutes, at which point a bright sliver of the moon will emerge and grow.

Comments

What will I see?

[YrWrstNtmr]

Probably 100% cloud cover here on the mid atlantic coast.

Enough with the fucking "Supermoon" already!

[PvtVoid]

The concept of a "supermoon" was invented by an astrologer, and has exactly zero astronomical significance. The moon is slightly larger in the sky. Whooooaah.

Re:Enough with the fucking "Supermoon" already!

[wonkey_monkey]

The concept of a "supermoon" was invented by an astrologer

The word was coined by an astrologer, but no-one invents astronomical events. And it is an astronomical event, regardless of who came up with the word or why.

And the term probably sees more far use these days without any connection to astrology, as here.

Re:Enough with the fucking "Supermoon" already!

[AthanasiusKircher]

That sound you heard was the OP's point whooshing over your head. Nobody is debating that it's an astronomical event - only that it's a non-event, of no actual significance beyond generating media hype.

It depends on what you mean by "actual significance." Sure, nothing is colliding tonight. No major astronomical bodies are being destroyed with the force of millions of nuclear explosions or anything.

But astronomy is primarily an observational science. People who are interested in astronomy generally get all excited about "rare events," which generally happen at least once per month -- "ooh, there's a conjunction of X and Y!" or "this is the closest approach of X and Y for the next 18 years!"

That IS what most amateur astronomers consider "actual significance." It's sort of like birdwatching -- where it's fun to spot something "rare" or whatever. (I'm personally not that into it, though I have found it mildly interesting in the past.)

Anyhow, a total lunar eclipse -- while not that uncommon -- is already the most interesting astronomical event that laypeople can easily observe. I myself have been surprised by them a number of times -- I'm just driving along at night and happen to turn in the direction of the full moon, and there it is with the tell-tale orange-ish or red-ish hue, or with an apparent chunk out of it.

This one happens to occur when the moon is somewhat bigger and brighter, so yeah, it's probably one of the most interesting and visible astronomical events that most people would ever bother to look at. Most other things that get even amateur astronomy buffs interested would require a telescope or at least binoculars and some knowledge of the sky. But any 5-year-old can point up tonight and say, "Hey Mom -- Look! The moon is red!! Cool!"

Is that of "actual significance"? Depends on your definition. But it's at least mildly cool. And if it gets some kids interested in science, what the heck is your problem with it? It's not "media hype" to point out one of the most visible astronomical phenomena.

Re:Enough with the fucking "Supermoon" already!

[tlhIngan]

The concept of a "supermoon" was invented by an astrologer, and has exactly zero astronomical significance. The moon is slightly larger in the sky. Whooooaah.

The "supermoon" may have little astronomical significance, but the moon has significant cultural significance. Many of which carry on to this day. We used to think the moon made us crazy, hence words based on the moon for crazy - lunatic, lunacy, etc.

And there's other cultural significance, including terms like "once in a blue moon" (which was retro-defined as two full moons in a month, which isn't all that rare an event).

The "supermoon" is just the moon reaching it's closest approach to earth, however, the "rare event" is the fact it's at its closest approach AND we have a lunar eclipse.

There may be zero astronomical significance to what happens/happened, but given the moon's ties to human culture, it's more of a cultural thing than scientific. At the very least, you can give everyone a scientific lecture on the moon to educate them, which isn't a bad thing.

Yeah right

[U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M]

And I suppose "Superman" is just a slightly larger human being.

Prepare your observation...

[Arkh89]

You can use Stellarium (http://www.stellarium.org/, or with the help of your package manager) to get a preview of tonight's sky at your terrestrial location (not accounting for cloud cover though). This includes a simulation of the actual eclipse.

GMT / UTC ?

[Tomahawk]

Once again, Slashdot firmly planted itself in US-only only land, completely ignoring the other 6billion+ of us on this little planet... *sigh*. At least these times cover Canada and South America, somewhat, even if only by accident.

Anyway, for the rest of us:

Partial eclipse begins at 01:07:13 UTC
Totality starts at 02:11:12 UTC
Maximum eclipse at 02:47:09 UTC
Totality ends at 03:23:05 UTC
Partial eclipse ends at 04:27:05

Find these times in your local timezone here: http://www.timeanddate.com/ecl...

Come on people, you can do better.

[PopeRatzo]

If you're plans for tonight's Super Blood MoonTM don't involve entheogens, nudity and a pagan ritual, you're just not trying hard enough.

Re:Come on people, you can do better.

[phantomfive]

Oh? What are you planning?