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Moon Earth Space Science

Super Blood Wolf Moon Eclipse Is Coming Later This Month (usatoday.com) 66

The "super blood wolf moon eclipse" is coming to a sky near you later this month. "The total lunar eclipse will start late on Sunday, Jan. 20 and finish early on Monday, Jan. 21," reports USA Today. Slashdot reader Zorro shares the report: Total lunar eclipse: A total lunar eclipse occurs when the moon and the sun are on exact opposite sides of Earth, according to NASA. When this happens, Earth blocks the sunlight that normally reaches the moon. Instead of that sunlight hitting the moon's surface, Earth's shadow falls on it. Starting at 9:36 p.m. EST Jan. 20, skywatchers will notice a "little notch is taken out of the moon," according to Brian Murphy, director of Indiana's Holcomb Observatory & Planetarium and Butler University professor. At 10:34 p.m., it moves into a partial eclipse, and starting at 11:41 p.m., the full eclipse begins; a maximum eclipse occurs at 12:12 a.m. Jan. 21. The total eclipse ends at 12:44 a.m.

Supermoon: A supermoon occurs when the full moon is at the closest point of its orbit to the Earth (perigee). That makes the moon look extra-close and extra bright -- up to 14% bigger and 30% brighter than a full moon at its farthest point from Earth, known as the apogee, NASA said. This is the first of three supermoons in 2019. The others will be on Feb. 19 and March 21. Of these, the Feb. 19 full moon will be the closest and largest full supermoon of 2019.

"Blood" moon: That is just the reddish color the moon will appear during the total lunar eclipse.

"Wolf" moon: According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, Native Americans called the January full moon the "wolf" moon because it appeared when wolves howled in hunger outside the villages.

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Super Blood Wolf Moon Eclipse Is Coming Later This Month

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  • by mentil ( 1748130 ) on Saturday January 05, 2019 @03:04AM (#57908082)

    This summary brought to you by Wolf-ram Alpha (leader of the search engine pack).

    • by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Saturday January 05, 2019 @03:30AM (#57908114)

      The summary is not so nice, because it left out an important detail: Where the eclipse will be visible.

      The eclipse will be visible throughout North America, most of South America, and just before dawn in Western Europe and Northwest Africa.

      • It's almost as if you don't know Slashdot charges money for the links in the summaries.

        Information? Waaaay down the list of priorities.

      • by Layzej ( 1976930 )

        The summary is not so nice, because it left out an important detail: Where the eclipse will be visible.

        That, and the small fact that this is (reportedly) another harbinger of the end times. CBN has the Christian perspective: http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/cw... [cbn.com]

        • Those superstitious nutjobs sure have provided plenty of hilarious amusement over the past century or so.

        • As an ordained minister of the Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster (May Sauce Be Upon Her Meaty Balls), my interpretation of this is that it is a sign of the Start Times - in that all over the world Pastafarians of distinction will use this celestial phenomenon as an excuse to START a good party. Pirate regalia recommended but not required. Idiotic Christianity guns and hard drugs to be left at home, thanks. Enjoyment and hangovers hoped for to celebrate the holy hangover which lead to the FSM(MSBUHMB) c
      • The summary is not so nice, because it left out an important detail:

        It also links to the wrong "Old Farmer's Almanac" description. Proper link here. [almanac.com]

  • by Anonymous Coward

    This seems to be more about stacking as many terms that make the eclipse extra super special than about the capacity to be impressed by the beauty of an eclipse itself.

    • This seems to be more about stacking as many terms that make the eclipse extra super special than about the capacity to be impressed by the beauty of an eclipse itself.

      They learned well from the Japanese. This title could have been any anime vampire show.

  • by rossdee ( 243626 ) on Saturday January 05, 2019 @03:32AM (#57908118)

    There ia no dark side of the moon really
    matter of fact its all dark

    • Sort of. There's just no full Sunlight. On the Moon it's a Solar eclipse, and not only do you get the corona you also get the Earth's atmosphere making a sunset circle. It must be quite a show. Instead of a crisp diamond ring, you get a sunset burst at the beginning and end. Imagine being one of the first residents of a permanent Lunar base to witness this event.

  • WTF? (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 )

    Did Trump name this or what?

  • Supermoon: A supermoon occurs when the full moon is at the closest point of its orbit to the Earth (perigee).

    This part is lame. The eclipse ends at 07:51 UTC but perigee (closest approach) is over twelve hours later at 19:59 UTC. So who decides the arbitrary definition of how close to perigee the eclipse has to be before it's a "supermoon eclipse"? The only definition I'd be happy with would be one where perigee occurs between the beginning and end of the eclipse, either total (2nd to 3rd contact) or partial (1st to 4th contact). With the definition they're using, requiring only being within 90% of the closest

    • by bruce_the_loon ( 856617 ) on Saturday January 05, 2019 @05:08AM (#57908206) Homepage

      Astronomy media sites go for the supermoon, blood moon etc crud to drive clicks. Actual looking-at-the-sky-from-the-top-of-mountains astronomers cringe when we hear these terms.

    • Only that part?

      Bloodmoon + Eclipse is redundant since they describe the same thing.

      Wolf moon is also stupid, since it's not actually anything astronomical at all, just a name some culture gave a moon in a particular month - of which there will be one every year anyway. Big deal.

    • by alzoron ( 210577 )

      It's close enough. The only thing that's important about super moon eclipses is how awesome they look and there's no real perceptual difference between an eclipse 12 hours before apogee and the exact moment of perigee.

    • by Ecuador ( 740021 )

      It is not astronomers, but media that do that. Even amateur astronomers like myself only use the term with some sort of quotes as it feels a bit cringy... For example check my (not bad if I may say so) "Supermoon" HD timelapse [youtube.com], where I have added the search terms "supermoon" and "blood moon" since that is what people use due to media, although a big chunk of eclipses are "supermoons" and it doesn't really make a big difference, while "blood moon" is also a cringy term as far as astronomers are concerned, bu

    • by religionofpeas ( 4511805 ) on Saturday January 05, 2019 @10:48AM (#57908744)

      You should ask Neil deGrasse Tyson for his thoughts on the matter.

  • by cyn1c77 ( 928549 ) on Saturday January 05, 2019 @05:03AM (#57908196)

    These names are getting ridiculous.

    • It's also just a nonsense fad created by news organizations so they can have a meaningless fluff story that old boring people can get excited about.

      Nobody talked about "super moons" until a couple of years ago, when there was (at least according to the news) some alignment of factors that would cause the moon to appear larger than it had in... like... thousands of years. Ok, cool, that's kind of interesting. A lot of people got excited, and reporters just love talking about it.

      Suddenly they started talk

  • And I would buy a t-shirt.
  • I can't wait for next month's Ultra Hydra Blue Leopard Moon!
  • It's going to take at least 3 more weeks for my "3 wolf moon" tee-shirt to arrive. I can't be seen at a super blood wolf moon eclipse party without it!

  • by cascadingstylesheet ( 140919 ) on Saturday January 05, 2019 @10:52AM (#57908758) Journal
    Great name for a band. Yes, the whole thing, "Super Blood Wolf Moon Eclipse Is Coming Later This Month" :)
  • Every new full moon with an exaggerated name is just s boring as the last full moon. People make it seem huge by taking photos from miles away and using a large zoom but in person it is always just the same size to the naked eye. Please just stop these worthless articles.
  • Every time somebody describes a lunar eclipse as a blood moon a puppy dies.

    ...laura

  • Super Blood Wolf Moon?' Now We're Just Making Shit Up [gizmodo.com]

    Seriously - the "Super Blood Wolf Moon" is bullshit. Not science. Not News for Nerds. (The idea of a "Super Moon" was invented by an astrologer for $DIETY's sake!)

Understanding is always the understanding of a smaller problem in relation to a bigger problem. -- P.D. Ouspensky

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