In the past 18 months, we've had three other lunar eclipses -- in cold weather, or at crazy hours of the night or morning. Finally, we have a lunar eclipse at a decent time of night and at a comfortable time of the year. If you miss this lunar eclipse, you'll need to wait a few years for anything as convenient.
A lunar eclipse happens when the Earth is perfectly aligned with the Sun and the Moon. We get "almost aligned" every time there's a Full Moon. But normally, the Moon passes a little above or a little below our shadow in space -- no eclipse. During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon passes near the center of the Earth's shadow. And because the Moon is illuminated by sunlight, our shadow slowly turns the bright Full Moon into a dim, reddish-orange ball for a while.
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| Partial Phase from April 2015 |
It takes a while for the Moon to slowly move through our shadow. So if you plan to watch you'll need to decide how to use the time. If you or your kids are impatient, you might just plan on watching a little every so often. If you plan to be outside for the whole event, you can look at the beautiful summer and fall constellations, like Cygnus the swan, Hercules, Pegasus and Cassiopeia. (You can print out a free map of the sky from the Skymaps.com website.)
You don't need a really dark sky. This eclipse would be easy to view from the middle of Salem. But if you can get to a darker spot without too many trees and buildings, you'll be able to enjoy the Milky Way, high overhead. You will want to find a place where you can see to the east and southeast. The nearly Full Moon will rise due east and as the eclipse progresses, the Moon will move higher in the southeast. If you don't have a good view to the east or southeast from home, try a park or sports field. A place like Shawnee Mac Lakes should provide a very good vista of the eclipse over the water.
Here's the timeline for the eclipse: The "partial" phase of the eclipse starts at 8:07 pm. You'll see the upper left part of the Moon look like someone took a small bite out of it. That dark area will get bigger and bigger. At about 9:10 pm, only a little sliver of bright Moon will be remaining and it'll be gone in just a few minutes.
Then the "total" phase starts. The Moon won't be invisible because light passing through our atmosphere will illuminate it dimly. Usually, the Moon looks reddish, but the color is unpredictable. The middle of totality is about 9:50 pm when the Moon is deep into our shadow. (That's the best time to see the Milky Way.) At 10:23 pm, the lower left part of the Moon will start to pass out of our shadow. You should see a bright sliver appear. That's the end of the total phase of the eclipse and the start of the final partial phase.
Slowly, more and more of the Moon will be illuminated as it leaves Earth's shadow. By 11:30 pm the second partial phase is done, and the whole Full Moon will be back to (almost) its normal brightness.
By the way, this eclipse will be visible across the whole USA. The only thing that changes is the timing for folks outside Central Daylight Time. They'd need to adjust the CDT times listed here. So if you know people who might be interested, please share this information with them and tell them to adjust the times to fit their timezone.
If it's a little cloudy, you might still be able to view the partial phases, but you might not see the dim, totally eclipsed Moon through the clouds. So let's hope for pleasant temperatures and clear skies so we can enjoy this eclipse.
