Red moon by morning: Total lunar eclipse on tax day (Blood Moon)
If you are already planning to be up early on April 15, setting the alarm for just a few hours earlier — or staying up a little later — might be worth your while in the most celestial way: A total eclipse of the moon will occur between 1:58 a.m. and 5:33 a.m., according to Skip Bird, outreach director for the Westminster Astronomical Society.
The result of the moon passing through the earth’s shadow, a total lunar eclipse is safe to view with the naked eye, unlike a solar eclipse, according to Bird, and the only pieces of equipment necessary to view a lunar eclipse are a pair of eyes, a comfortable chair and perhaps some hot chocolate.
“With a solar eclipse, you are looking at the sun, which is like a light bulb,” he said. “A lunar eclipse is the opposite. With a lunar eclipse, you are looking at the shadow, not the light bulb, so it is safe to look at.”
The eclipse will proceed in phases with the earliest, barely noticeable changes coming around 1 a.m., according to Bird, as the moon slips into the earth’s penumbral shadow, the gray, less opaque border of the shadow earth casts into space, which will dim the lunar luminosity. Just before 2 a.m. will begin the partial eclipse, when the curved, dark core of earth’s shadow — the umbral shadow — can be seen moving across the face of the moon.
“It will take it 40 to 45 minutes to go completely dark, that is, it goes from bright white, to some shade of red, or pink or orange,” Bird said. “The partial eclipse starts at 1:58 a.m. and totality begins at 3:07 a.m.”
Red moon by morning: Total lunar eclipse on tax day - The Advocate of Westminster and Finksburg: News
