Watch full lunar eclipse ‘blood moon’ tonight
Baku, April 15 (AZERTAC). If you’re into skygazing, you really should stay up late tonight (April 14, April 15) and watch the first of a series of four “blood” moons — a sequence of lunar eclipses called a tetrad that will occur over the next two years, and which some religious types believe signifies the beginning of the apocalypse. Mars is also incredibly close to Earth at the moment, making it one of the brightest objects in the sky. This alignment between the Sun, Earth, Mars, and the Moon has only occurred a handful of times in the last two thousand years, each time coinciding with a “hugely significant” religious event. For non-religious types, though, it’s just a great opportunity to see an amazing astronomical event that probably won’t happen again in your lifetime.
At around 2am tonight (Eastern Daylight Time), the Moon will enter the Earth’s penumbra (the edge of the shadow cast by the Earth), creating a partial eclipse. From 3am through to 4:30am, the Moon will be fully within the Earth’s umbra, creating a total lunar eclipse. During this period, the Moon will appear sunset (or blood) red. It’s really quite beautiful.
The lunar eclipse will unfold over three hours beginning at 1:58 a.m. EDT when the moon begins moving into Earth's shadow. A little more than an hour later, the moon will be fully eclipsed and shrouded in an orange, red or brown glow.
Precise coloring depends primarily on the amount of volcanic ash and other aerosols floating in the atmosphere, SpaceWeather.com reports.
The celestial show will be over by 5:33 a.m., according to astronomers at the University of Texas' McDonald Observatory.
Eclipses occur two or three times per year when the sun, Earth and the full moon line up so that the moon passes through Earth's shadow.
Tuesday's eclipse will be the last full lunar eclipse visible from the United States until 2019, NASA said.
Weather permitting, the eclipse will be visible from most of the country, with the exception of New England and Alaska.
Alaskans can get a view of the moon rising already partly eclipsed. From New England, the moon sets before the eclipse ends.
The eclipse also will be visible from Australia, New Zealand and all of the Americas.
NASA plans live coverage of the eclipse on NASA TV, the NASA.gov website and on its social media accounts. Coverage begins at 2 a.m. EDT.
Other websites offering live webcasts and commentary of the eclipse includes Slooh.com and the Coca-Cola Science Center at Columbus State University in Georgia.
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