AccuWeather: Best Viewing for Rare Super Blue Moon Eclipse will be in Eastern, South-Central US

By Kristina Pydynowski, Senior Meteorologist for AccuWeather.com

AccuWeather Global Headquarters – January 30, 2017 – North America will be treated to a blue moon, supermoon and a lunar eclipse all at once during the early morning hours of Wednesday. AccuWeather reports the weather should not interfere with sky gazers across the eastern and south-central United States hoping to view the celestial event that has not happened in more than 150 years.

“These three lunar events separately are not uncommon, but it is rare for all three to occur at the same time,” AccuWeather Meteorologist and Astronomy Blogger Brian Lada said.

Lada stated that the last time all three events lined up for North America was on March 31, 1866.

“People all across North America will be able to see the moon light up the night sky, as long as clouds do not interfere, but only those in the central and western parts of the continent will be able to see a total lunar eclipse,” he stated.

The eclipse will enter its total phase after the moon has set along the East Coast of the U.S.

Despite only being treated to a partial lunar eclipse around dawn, most of the eastern U.S. will not have to worry about clouds blocking the show.

This includes in the major cities of New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Raleigh, North Carolina, and Atlanta.

Sky gazers will definitely want to bundle up when going outdoors to view the eclipse, along with heading to work or school.

Temperatures early Wednesday morning will range from the single digits F in northern New England to the teens and 20s in the mid-Atlantic to the upper 20s and lower 30s across most of Georgia and Alabama.

Jacksonville, Orlando and Miami will join other communities across the Florida Peninsula in dealing with some clouds streaming in from the Atlantic Ocean.

Memphis, Tennessee; Little Rock, Arkansas; Shreveport, Louisiana; Dallas and Oklahoma City will enjoy both a clear sky and the total lunar eclipse.

Temperatures will drop to near freezing by the start of the eclipse along the Mississippi River but will be held to the lower 40s along the I-35 corridor in the South Central states.

Farther to the south, low-hanging clouds may develop over Brownsville and San Antonio, Texas, and spoil the show.

Clouds will also make the eclipse difficult to view across a large part of the northern tier from the Midwest to the Northwest. That is not good news for residents in Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle and Portland, Oregon.

There may be a pocket of clearer conditions that unfolds around the Dakotas.

While a thick blanket of clouds totally ruining the show is not expected, there may be enough clouds to prevent those in the Southwest from having a clear view of the entire eclipse.

The deserts, including Phoenix, may be lucky and enjoy a clearer sky than the rest of the Southwest.

Those in Alaska and Hawaii will also be able to view the entire eclipse, depending on the weather.

Conditions will be better to view the eclipse in Hilo than Honolulu as clouds and showers will dominate the western Hawaiian islands.

Most of Alaska, including Anchorage, will be clear during the eclipse but enduring frigid air.

While the moon will appear its normal color through most of the night, Lada stated that it will turn a rusty orange or red color during the predawn hours of Jan. 31 as it passes into the Earth’s shadow.

“Unlike a total solar eclipse which lasts only minutes, this will last for several hours,” Lada said.

For those who miss out on this eclipse or cannot wait for another, the next total eclipse viewable across all of the U.S. and North America will occur on the night of Jan. 20, 2019.

“This lunar eclipse will also occur during a full supermoon, making the blood moon appear larger than the average lunar eclipse,” Lada said.

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AccuWeather: Where to See Lunar Eclipse, Friday, Oct 17, Last of 2013

The lunar eclipse on Friday, October 17, will be most visible for the United States and Canada at 7:50 p.m. EDT. It will be the last lunar eclipse of 2013 (photo from AccuWeather.com)

AccuWeather reports a partial lunar eclipse will be visible Friday into Saturday night for those living from eastern Canada and the upper Northeast to Africa and most of Europe.

At 23:51 UTC, the fullest coverage of the moon by Earth’s shadow will occur, lasting for 239 minutes, according to Alex Sosnowski, expert senior meteorologist for AccuWeather.com

The eclipse will be most visible for the United States and Canada at 7:50 p.m. EDT. Due to the timing of the eclipse, the moonrise will not be high enough for western parts of North America to view; its peak will not reach so far west and will only be visible for Africa and Europe.

For the parts of the United States and Canada that the eclipse will reach, cloud coverage will hinder the view for a large area, especially in Canada. Two slow-moving storm systems will bring rainy and cloudy conditions to much of Canada Friday evening. Some areas in the Saint Lawrence River Valley may get breaks to catch a glimpse of the moon, but most of Eastern and Atlantic Canada will miss out on the viewing.

Conditions will be mostly clear for the small portion of the northeastern United States that the eclipse will extend into.

Unlike viewing a solar eclipse, lunar eclipses may be viewed by staring directly at them. They also won’t require any additional equipment, such as telescopes or binoculars. Areas that have clear skies will be able to see it the same way they’d typically view the moon. Because this eclipse will only have a partial shadow, the difference may not be as noticeable to the general public.

Most of Europe will have fair to good conditions at the time of the eclipse, where it will be visible at 12:50 a.m. WEST in Lisbon, Portugal, to 3:50 a.m. MSK Saturday in Moscow, Russia.

The best viewing conditions are expected in parts of Scandinavia as well as farther south across the Balkans. High pressure over these areas should promote mainly clear skies. These good viewing conditions will be sandwiched between two areas of poor viewing conditions. To the west, a large storm system will spread clouds across the British Isles and the western Iberian Peninsula, while another shield of clouds will cover the sky east of the Black Sea. Elsewhere, a few clouds can spread eastward across central europe, but many people will be able to view the eclipse from Barcelona to Paris to Berlin and Rome.

Lunar eclipses occur about two to four times a year. Some these are penumbral eclipses, which are so subtle that they hardly look like anything to the average observer.

Shadows have three parts, the umbra, penumbra and antumbra, which are used to describe the relation of the shadow to the degree of light casting it. The umbra is where the shadow is deepest, as the light source is fully blocked by the object casting the shadow. The penumbra and antumbra occur on the edges of the umbra where some of the light source lessens the shadow. The light cast on the moon during a penumbra eclipse obscures the view of the shadow cast, making the eclipse hard to notice, Sosnowski reported.

This eclipse will be a penumbra, and astronomers will likely notice it more, he said.

This will be the last lunar eclipse of 2013. The next easily visible eclipse will be April 15, 2014, seen as either a total or partial eclipse from Australia and eastern Asia across the Pacific to North and South America.

HAYDEN PLANETARIUM PREVIEWS TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE AT WINTER SOLSTICE PARTY

While at the American Museum of Natural History, be sure to see Brain: The Inside Story © 2010 Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

The American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium invites visitors to preview the stars of the winter season and the total eclipse of the Moon which takes place early the next day, during its Winter Solstice Party on Monday, December 20 from 6:30-8 pm. Parts of four continents will be treated to a view of a total lunar eclipse early on the morning of December 21, and Hayden Planetarium astronomers say the view from New York will be the best of its kind until the year 2014.

Join astronomers Steve Beyer, Joe Rao, and Ted Williams, as well as members of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York, as they prepare prospective eclipse watchers for the lunar show on the final full night of the autumn season. The evening’s festivities will include hot cocoa and, weather permitting, observations of celestial objects through telescopes and binoculars on the Rose Center for Earth and Space’s Arthur Ross Terrace. There will also be a simulation on the dome in the Hayden Space Theater of this year’s winter solstice eclipse using the world’s most advanced star projector, the Zeiss Mark IX.

A total lunar eclipse occurs only when a full Moon, the Earth, and the Sun are in a direct line that allows the Earth’s shadow to fall on the face of the Moon. In the New York area, the eclipse will officially begin on December 21 at 12:29 am as the Moon begins to enter Earth’s outer, or penumbral, shadow. But viewers will not notice any dramatic changes in the Moon’s appearance until1:33 am, when the partial phase of the eclipse begins and the Earth’s dark shadow–called the umbra–starts to slowly creep over the face of the Moon. At 2:41 am the eclipse will reach totality, but sunlight bent by our atmosphere around the curvature of the Earth should produce a coppery glow on the Moon. Totality ends at 3:53 am and the Moon will completely emerge from the umbra to return to its full brilliance at 5:01 am.

Unlike an eclipse of the Sun, an eclipse of the Moon presents no hazards to the viewer. No precautions to protect the eyes are needed. The last total eclipse of the Moon seen in New York occurred on February 20, 2008, and there will not be another until April 14, 2014.

Winter Solstice Party admission is $15; $13.50 (Museum members, students and senior citizens). Tickets can be purchased online at: http://www.amnh.org/calendar/category/Hayden-Planetarium-Programs/

Also see the blockbuster exhibit on view, “Brain: The Inside Story”