Some are calling what we could see in the sky on Sunday night the super blood wolf moon lunar eclipse.
"Super" because the moon is near its closest point to the Earth in its orbit, a perigee-syzygy.
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"Blood" because of the reddish hue it takes on during totality.
"Wolf" for the name given January's full moon in recognition of hungry wolves displeased about mid-winter's scarcity of food.
That reddish color should look familiar. Like a sunrise or sunset, Earth's atmosphere scatters blue light leaving behind mostly red light that bends, or refracts, into Earth’s shadow and onto the Moon. Another way to look at it is that we are seeing all of Earth's sunsets and sunrises simultaneously cast onto Moon's surface.
The Moon enters the penumbral, or lighter part, of the Earth’s shadow at 9:36 p.m. Sunday. This portion of the eclipse is less noticeable, however.
At 10:33 p.m., the show really starts as the partial eclipse begins when the Moon first touches the umbra or the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow. Over the next hour, the Earth’s shadow will creep across the face of the Moon from the bottom up.
From 11:15 p.m. to 12:15 a.m. is the best time to watch the eclipse because you’ll see the eclipse progress as the full Moon darkens to a shade of orangey-red through the point of greatest eclipse, at 12:12 a.m.
The total eclipse begins at 11:41 p.m. as the Moon completely enters the umbra.
At 12:43 a.m. the total eclipse ends as the Moon begins to brighten again from the upper left to the bottom right.
By 1:50 a.m., the partial eclipse ends as the Moon exist the umbra. It remains in the penumbral shadow until 2:48 a.m.
You won't need a telescope, just a good coat with sub-freezing temperatures arriving with the beginning of the eclipse. The WRAL Weather forecast calls for an overnight low of 20 degrees in Raleigh Sunday night.
Though rain is expected during the morning hours on Sunday, the clouds are expected to begin breaking up during the afternoon. Partly cloudy skies are expected to improve throughout the evening, allowing for a glimpse of the eclipse.
Unlike solar eclipses, which are measured in seconds, this total lunar eclipse lasts over an hour.
This is the only lunar eclipse of 2019 and the only one visible from North America this year. The next partial umbral lunar eclipse occurs May 26, 2021, and the next total lunar eclipse a year later.
A partial solar eclipse will be visible from the area but will be underway at sunrise on June 10, 2021. You’ll have to roadtrip west to be in totality for the next total solar eclipse of April 8, 2024. If you’d prefer a total solar eclipse come the Carolinas again, you must wait until May 11, 2078, when the path of totality passes through Charlotte and Raleigh.
In the meantime, we do have another eclipse of sorts to look forward to in 2019. Mercury will pass in front of the Sun on the morning of Nov. 11. Area science museums and astronomy clubs are already preparing to help you see the event.