Total Lunar Eclipse Set To Wow Star Gazers, Clear Skies Willing (reuters.com) 87
Astronomy buffs across the United States have been promised all the makings of a spectacular total lunar eclipse on Sunday except one -- clear skies. From a report: Star gazers from Los Angeles to New York will keep their eyes on the sky for the eclipse, known as a super blood wolf moon, expected to appear at 11:41 p.m. EST. Although it is a total eclipse, the moon will never go completely dark but rather take on a coppery red glow -- called a blood moon. It is also a full moon that is especially close to Earth, called a supermoon.
And since it appears in January, when wolves howled in hunger outside villages, it has earned the name wolf moon, according to The Farmers Almanac. But no matter how perfectly the stars align for this stellar event, the thrill or disappointment of the evening really depends on one thing: the weather.
And since it appears in January, when wolves howled in hunger outside villages, it has earned the name wolf moon, according to The Farmers Almanac. But no matter how perfectly the stars align for this stellar event, the thrill or disappointment of the evening really depends on one thing: the weather.
Wolves? Really? (Score:1)
And since it appears in January, when wolves howled in hunger outside villages, it has earned the name wolf moon, according to The Farmers Almanac.
But was January's full moon ever commonly called a wolf moon, or is this all just a relatively recent popularization to help fill the endless news cycle?
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But was January's full moon ever commonly called a wolf moon, or is this all just a relatively recent popularization to help fill the endless news cycle?
For most of our lives the only full moon to be specially named in popular culture was the 'harvest moon' of September, which was deemed special because at that time of year the ecliptic is at a small angle to the horizon, causing the full Moon of that month to rise at about the same time every night, rather than the usual 50 minutes later each day. This helped farmers bring in the harvest.
Blue moon etc (Score:3, Informative)
For most of our lives the only full moon to be specially named in popular culture was the 'harvest moon' of September
Really? You never heard of a "Blue Moon"? Just because YOU never heard of the other moons doesn't mean nobody else has.
strawberry moon [wikipedia.org]
hunters moon [lyrics.com]
The list goes on for every special moon [space.com] if you bother to look. Also I'm guessing you never grew up around 4-H [4-h.org] or FFA [ffa.org] clubs. You likely would have heard of at least some of them if you had any meaningful relationship to agriculture.
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“Blue Moon” is an expression not tied to a calendar month. Other than being a generali expression describing any rare event, it is applied to a second full moon in any month.
Regular does not require monthly (Score:2)
“Blue Moon” is an expression not tied to a calendar month.
Yes we are all aware of that.
Other than being a generali expression describing any rare event, it is applied to a second full moon in any month.
You seem to have missed the point. It is a special name for a full moon that occurs regularly. The fact that it isn't tied to a particular month on a calendar doesn't mean it doesn't happen regularly or that it doesn't have a special name or that it isn't well known in popular culture.
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Interesting. That really didn't sound right to me, but research bears it out:
https://www.space.com/38319-wh... [space.com]
That said, there's a lot of variance due to latitude, and "about the same time" still ranges from 20-40 minutes later each day for most of the US. But that'll be my something new learned this day.
Yes really (Score:2)
But was January's full moon ever commonly called a wolf moon, or is this all just a relatively recent popularization to help fill the endless news cycle?
You could have gotten that question answered on google in less time than it took to type that post. No it is nothing recent.
I'm set up to image it now (Score:2)
Re:Energeian Planes (Score:4, Informative)
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Seriously, this is a total lunar eclipse, which is cool, but not particularly unique. Unless you're 90 years old, you'll have a chance to see another.
But all the naming hype which seems to have started in the last few years is complete and utter bullshit. Just wait until Google China starts advertising by beaming LASERs on the surface to advertise Coca-Cola.
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Well, to be honest the Full Wolf Blood Laser Super Coke Moon does sound pretty awesome!
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> Seriously, this is a total lunar eclipse, which is cool, but not particularly unique.
> Unless you're 90 years old, you'll have a chance to see another.
Next total eclipses are in 2022 and 2025 for North America.
https://www.timeanddate.com/ec... [timeanddate.com]
In full shadow now (Score:2)
Look outside if you've not been already! (and if you can even see the moon of course...)
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Just had a peek out there about a half hour ago. Pretty cool in a creepy way.
Time to load another bowl and go ponder it further.
Obligatory (Score:3)
I live in western Washington State, you insensitiv... oh, wait, the sky is actually fairly clear right now. I can see the moon!
Never mind.
(But it does seem like fog may ultimately get in the way)
Re:Obligatory (Score:5, Informative)
... and we got to see full totality for maybe 15 minutes before the fog started to significantly interfere. Now I can’t even tell where the moon is...
But it was still cool, regardless.
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Yeah, I heard that the viewing situation improved considerably as one headed north - it was supposedly great up in BC! I'm about 40 miles south of Seattle, though, and it was cool enough (and the soil wet enough) that fog ended up being a problem.
One of the great things about lunar eclipses, though, is that they're not all that uncommon. We've gotten to see a number of them over the past several years.
There is no dark side of the moon, really (Score:2)
Matter of fact its all dark
I wonder what the chances are of a lunar eclipse happening at some other time besides a full moon.
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I wonder what the chances are of a lunar eclipse happening at some other time besides a full moon.
Zero.
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That is true only if you are assuming its the earth that is eclipsing the moon. Other options are however substantially less likely, and less desirable.
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Yeah Padawan, go on and wonder more ... ...
And if you figure the secret: don't tell anyone
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Yup, that Chinese moon landing - fake!! Just like the US one. Dark side - as you said: there IS NO dark side. They have a secured site deep in the Gobi Desert where the "moon lander" poses for cameras. The moon is a flat disc of cheese - every child knows that.
Too bad for me. (Score:2)
But it's not because of the weather per se, it stopped raining a couple days ago.
No, I have a nasty respiratory infection that has me coughing so much, my ribcage muscles are cramping under the load. If I start shivering -- even a little bit -- those muscles go into cramp mode. So I can't be outside, even a mere hour from now.
I've photographed the sequence before, and pretty much lost to clouds around the same time the redness fully set in. I've posted it, too. [imgur.com] But I remember how cold I was then, and that w
Fuck Climate Change (Score:2)
I canâ(TM)t see the eclipse the bay area is cloudy and rainy. How is this a coincidence?
Clear here (Score:2)
Clear and cold perfect conditions. Now fifteen minutes to totality.
Not exactly blood red. More like orange (Score:5, Funny)
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An irritated prolapse?
Like.. (Score:2)
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it was cool (Score:2)
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Re:Did u use the flash (Score:2)
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Completely clear skies, a tad cold [46F], camera would not pick it up well, but worth the watch. The red part was cool too :)
You're calling 46F cold, that's short sleeves weather. It was -31C(-24F) tonight, with 40% humidity and no cloud cover which made for excellent watching. In this neck of the woods it's almost always overcast in the winter.
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You're calling 46F cold, that's short sleeves weather. It was -31C(-24F) tonight, with 40% humidity and no cloud cover which made for excellent watching. In this neck of the woods it's almost always overcast in the winter.
Down here 60 is winter coat weather lol. I've lived here too long to ever consider going back to true cold. I've felt -76 wind chills and -20's far too many times growing up to last a life time and then some. Cold literally hurts me [nerve necropathy and thyriod issues] and I will NEVER go back to those conditions :(
Cold? (Score:2)
Down here 60 is winter coat weather lol.
60F is not winter coat weather anywhere. I've gone swimming at the beach in temperatures colder than that. If someone really thinks they need a winter coat for 60F weather then they need to see a doctor. If it was 60F here tomorrow I'd be going out sans jacket.
In all seriousness though, I'm not a fan of the serious cold either. Last night it was -20C (-4F) where I live and that's cold enough that I wasn't about to go out and stand around in the cold to try to get a good photo. Pity because the sky cond
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Down here 60 is winter coat weather lol.
Subtropics, tropics or desert huh? Gotta admit, the time I spend in FL and can flip off the winter is great. That transition from damned cold to damned warm though always makes me feel ill for the first couple of days.
I've lived here too long to ever consider going back to true cold. I've felt -76 wind chills and -20's far too many times growing up to last a life time and then some. Cold literally hurts me [nerve necropathy and thyriod issues] and I will NEVER go back to those conditions :(
Worst case I've been in was working in a deployment crew in northern Alberta stringing backup telecom equipment to remote cities and town. We got down to -44C and a steady windchill of -64C, even the computers started having problems especially since the vehicles we worked from weren't retr
And its FUCKING AWSOME (Score:2)
Right now! (Score:2)
Clear skies in Stockholm, at 6 in the morning. The weather report had warned of clouds but been wrong.
I walked outside to an open field in -12 degrees C cold and gazed upon the super-blood-wolf-moon in the West.
It is... (Score:1)
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The Wolf moon part is absolutely irrelevant since this is just a name given to the full moon in January. The same event in August would be called a Sturgeon Moon Eclipse and in November that would be a Beaver Moon Eclipse.
Also about 1/4 of all full moons can be classified as supermoons (3 or 4 per year) and supermoons are barely noticeable. Finally, there is Total Lunar Eclipses are also quite common (about 1 per year on average) and they are always visible from half of the world. So Supermoon Total Lunar e
From Austria (Score:2)
Photographed it at 6 AM CEST, at ~18 degrees above the Western horizon. Orange-red, with the upper (NE) limb still slightly yellow. Near-perfect viewing conditions: moderately frosty weather, clear sky, dry atmosphere (for AT conditions, that is), no wind to speak of.
Perfect here (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, it is 6 below zero (F), but the skies were perfectly clear for me. I was worried because the forecast for tonight has been saying "overcast" for days.
It wasn't nearly as impressive as the solar eclipse of 2017, but still pretty neat.
We've got snow cover here, so it is surprisingly bright with a full moon - enough light to read a book by, or drive without your headlights. As the penumbra moved in, I couldn't tell any difference looking at the moon, but I did notice that it was getting dark out. As the umbra moved in, it was plainly visible, and kinda screwy-looking. Many years ago, I got in the habit of reading partial phases of the moon as a pointer towards the present position of the sun, so it was odd that to me, the moon looked like it was pointing to a sun just under the northwest horizon.
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Too cold for my bones (Score:2)
I would have loved to photograph it but the temperature was a balmy -20C (-4F) last night and I'm not about to stand outside in that sort of temperature trying to keep my gear and myself from being killed by the laws of thermodynamics. Pity because the night was super clear and the air still because of the cold weather.
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Not sure about the Wow! factor (Score:2)
A little late (Score:2)
Especially if it's not from the eastern time zone.
And the Flat Earthers... (Score:2)