Blood red ‘supermoon eclipse’ is set to grace the skies – here’s how YOU can see it
The sky will put on a spectacular display next week.
The supermoon Harvest, which appears 14 percent larger, rises on Tuesday, September 17, and undergoes a partial lunar eclipse when part of it falls into Earth’s shadow.
Not only will part of the full moon appear darker, but the lunar surface will likely have a blood-red color, since the sunlight reaching the moon only passes through Earth’s atmosphere.
The Moon will be visible from about 7:00 p.m. ET, and the partial solar eclipse will begin at 8:41 p.m. ET and last until just after midnight.
The moon will shine blood red because it will only receive sunlight that has passed through Earth’s atmosphere. Pictured is the 2024 Harvest Moon over Spain
A supermoon only occurs when the Moon is at its closest point to Earth in its elliptical orbit, called the perigee, at a distance of 366,000 kilometers.
The Moon is normally 384,000 kilometers away from our planet.
Because the satellite is closer, it appears 30 percent brighter than when it is farthest away.
Although the Moon reaches perigee every 27-day orbit around Earth, supermoons occur only three to four times per year.
While the term “supermoon” is not in any astronomical dictionary, the term is used to describe a full moon that is within at least “90 percent of its perigee,” according to NASA’s website.
Next week’s full moon gets its name from early American agriculture.
The intense lighting provided an extension of natural light which contributed one or more days of support with additional time for the harvest of fall crops around the autumn equinox.
Although we no longer rely on the light of the moon for our agriculture, we still use the term for the supermoon that occurs every year during this period.
But the 2024 Harvest Moon coincides with a lunar eclipse, which occurs during the full moon and with an annual frequency of four to seven times per year, according to NASA’s website.
A total lunar eclipse is similar to a solar eclipse and involves the planets of Earth, the moon, and the sun being perfectly aligned, blocking the sun’s rays from reaching the lunar surface.
The alignment of the Earth’s shadow, or umbra, creates a dimming effect on the brightness of a traditional full moon. This can result in red and orange hues being reflected off the lunar surface, depending on the concentration of dust in Earth’s atmosphere from the vantage point.
The next total lunar eclipse will occur on March 14, 2025, just before the vernal equinox.
A partial lunar eclipse, such as that visible during the lunar supermoon on September 18, results from the imperfect alignment of the Sun, Earth, and Moon, causing the Moon to pass through only part of the Earth’s umbra.
Partial lunar eclipses are visually characterized by the Earth’s shadow first expanding and then receding onto the Moon, without ever covering the entire lunar surface.
When the full moon is low, it has a larger and brighter appearance compared to its peak height. This phenomenon is known as a moon illusion and is something to keep in mind when attempting to photograph upcoming lunar events.
When using a standard smartphone, astronomers and photographers recommend turning off the flash, activating night mode (if you have it), shortening your exposure time, and zooming in to increase detail and capture the already massive supermoon even more clearly.