Blood moon on 9/27

MichaelB

MichaelB

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Blood moon coming up in a couple of days. More info here Don't Miss The "Blood Moon" Eclipse Later This Month | IFLScience
On the night of September 27 at 10:47 p.m. EDT (September 28, 3:47 a.m. BST), we will be treated to a beautiful "Blood Moon" eclipse. This is more accurately known as a total lunar eclipse and occurs when Earth’s shadow completely covers the Moon, with the Sun behind us in respect to the Moon.

During the event, the particular refraction of sunlight through Earth’s atmosphere can cause the Moon to appear red. This is because the more of our atmosphere sunlight passes through, the more it shifts towards the red end of the spectrum, just like how a sunrise or sunset appears red. If Earth had no atmosphere, the Moon would appear dark during the eclipse.
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How cool! Thanks for the "heads up". I hope that clouds don't obscure it here. I have never heard of this phenomenon and would love to see it.
 
This is a supermoon (closest to the earth for the year) - so it is a supermoon total eclipse, and occurs early in the moonrise for some of us in the U.S. so it could be spectacular.
 
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As a long-time amateur astronomer I sigh and roll my eyes every time I hear the phrases "blood moon" and "supermoon." Especially when you have read about the nonsense that apparently popularized the term blood moon.

Whatever.
 
GalaxyBoy said:
As a long-time amateur astronomer I sigh and roll my eyes every time I hear the phrases "blood moon" and "supermoon." Especially when you have read about the nonsense that apparently popularized the term blood moon.

Whatever.
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Totally agree. Local radio is talking about 'rare and spectacular' when in fact this is neither. Count me in for being centre-line on 21 Aug 2017. Now that will be spectacular though still not that rare.
 
It's the biggest (closest) full moon of the year, and happens to have a total eclipse. I think that's pretty cool, and if all the hype has more people going out and looking at it, that's a good thing.
 
Clouds and rain in our forecast. Oh well.

I remember seeing my first eclipse--young and in love at a square dance convention when I was 15. We were at the San Francisco Civic auditorium and they never locked the unused rooms. Boyfriend and I traipsed around the dark unlocked rooms upstairs till we found one with a view of the copper moon. That was the only lunar eclipse that meant anything to me. At that convention the boyfriend got invited to travel with a square dance group to Romania. two months later he was on the trip and my summer was shot. It was a disappointment at first then...

Well not quite....his assigned roommate on that trip was a fellow musician and they became dear friends to this day, and the three of us recorded music together in 1989, five years after I married...the roommate, my DH of 31 years.

This will be the final of four eclipses over the last two years. Would love to see it. But I'll take the rain any day. And the memories of a lunar eclipse long ago....


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6miths said:
Totally agree. Local radio is talking about 'rare and spectacular' when in fact this is neither. Count me in for being centre-line on 21 Aug 2017. Now that will be spectacular though still not that rare.
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We're already planning a trip to the west where the clouds are few and far between!!!


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"Supermoons occur when the moon reaches its full phase at or near the satellite's closest approach to Earth, and appears abnormally large and bright as a result. The Sept. 27 event is quite special; the last supermoon eclipse occurred in 1982, and the next won't take place until 2033."

I'd say that's fairly rare. Last chance for me most likely.

Supermoon Lunar Eclipse 2015: Full 'Blood Moon' Coverage
 
I've seen many eclipses in my lifetime and this is just going to be one big disappointment. The moon is not going to be red. It is only going to get a dark pale orange/rusty color. One will not notice if the moon is "closer" or "closest" at all. It will be the same ol', ol' same moon and the same size.

The media hype is just ridiculous. I think that's mostly because the folks in the media are pretty clueless about anything having to do with science.

Of course, the scientists who do follow the moon should hype this because if they can get the public to appreciate their work, then more funding for their work might result. There might even be more tickets sold to planetariums and science museums. But it will probably backfire with most people thinking "That's it?!!? I didn't see anything special."

And while I am ranting … did anybody see this past summer's conjunction of Venus and Jupiter? Remember, it was in June? It was just 2 dots of light in the sky if you went out and looked. The media did a real disservice to these planets by only making folks look once. The real treat was looking every night and seeing the spacing between Venus and Jupiter change quite a bit and their relationship to nearby stars change, too. No wonder the ancients named them for the Greek for Wanderers.
 
Bikerdude said:
"Supermoons occur when the moon reaches its full phase at or near the satellite's closest approach to Earth, and appears abnormally large and bright as a result. The Sept. 27 event is quite special; the last supermoon eclipse occurred in 1982, and the next won't take place until 2033."

I'd say that's fairly rare. Last chance for me most likely.

Supermoon Lunar Eclipse 2015: Full 'Blood Moon' Coverage
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Thanks Bikerdude - I also think that qualifies as rare, and I really look forward to an early evening eclipse with a large moon.
 
LOL! said:
Of course, the scientists who do follow the moon should hype this because if they can get the public to appreciate their work, then more funding for their work might result.
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Thanks for saying what must be said. I was avoiding it because I didn't want to be accused of being anti-science. I don't find statements by the science Lobby, we'll call it, to be any less self centered and self-serving, or any less designed to deceive than anything a salesman or politician would say.
 
Full disclosure: I am a bona fide scientist. I know a bit about marketing science, but mostly in the infectious disease arena. You don't want to die of food poisoning or ebola or rabies, do you?
 
LOL! said:
Full disclosure: I am a bona fide scientist. I know a bit about marketing science, but mostly in the infectious disease arena. You don't want to die of food poisoning or ebola or rabies, do you?
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I didn't say I was against science. I just didn't want to be perceived as being against science.

I was in the military for 20 years. I am well aware of how they like to "push the product." Especially true nowadays in this age of HEEE-roes everywhere.

George Bernard Shaw said: "All professions are conspiracies against the laity".
 
It's probably named "blood moon" because "rusty lunar eclipse" just doesn't have the same zing. :)

Disappointment, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder. As long as there's no cloud cover I'll enjoy it. But then again, I'm easy to please. :)
 
LOL! said:
And while I am ranting … did anybody see this past summer's conjunction of Venus and Jupiter? Remember, it was in June? It was just 2 dots of light in the sky if you went out and looked. The media did a real disservice to these planets by only making folks look once. The real treat was looking every night and seeing the spacing between Venus and Jupiter change quite a bit and their relationship to nearby stars change, too. No wonder the ancients named them for the Greek for Wanderers.
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Indeed! I was traveling through the mountains and the desert at the time and made a point to watch them every night. It was an interesting week in the sky.

Looking forward to tomorrow's eclipse as I always like living through the end of times events.



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MichaelB said:
It's probably named "blood moon" because "rusty lunar eclipse" just doesn't have the same zing. :)

Disappointment, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder. As long as there's no cloud cover I'll enjoy it. But then again, I'm easy to please. :)
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+1

We saw the 3rd one in this series, October 7 last year while we were in Tasmania. Very impressive.
 
Lol sure rare but if you go out and look at this month's super duper full moon and next month's and the following month's poor piddly regular full moons you won't be able to see a difference at all. And lunar eclipses are seen over most of the night side of the earth twice a year with total lunar eclipses about once a year. Astronomically speaking these are a dime a dozen. Even in the context of a human life span not 'rare'.

Eclipse schedule

Solar and Lunar Eclipses Worldwide – Next 10 years
 
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