Stargazers will be over the moon Sunday as three separate lunar events converge in one night.
A rare supermoon total lunar eclipse will grace the night sky, coinciding with harvest moon, in a spectacular celestial trifecta that will surely leave astronomers, professionals and amateurs in shared wonder.
According to NASA, all three events have lined up just five times since 1900, the last in 1982. And it won’t happen again until 2033.
The full eclipse of the moon will last more than an hour and be visible, weather permitting, starting at 10:11 p.m.
The phenomenon will unfold as the moon, Earth and sun line up, with Earth’s shadow totally obscuring the moon and casting an eerie red shadow on the lunar surface.
Light refracted off of Earth’s atmosphere appears on the moon in a dark-red hue, leading to the term blood moon.
The total eclipse coincides with the full moon nearest the fall equinox, which is known as the harvest moon.
On top of that, the moon will be at its closest approach to Earth for the year, meaning it’s also a supermoon. And the moon will appear 13% larger to the naked eye, according to NASA.
NASA planetary scientist Noah Petro is hoping the celestial event will ignite more interest in our nearest neighbor in space.
“The moon’s a dynamic place,” said Petro, the deputy project scientist for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, which has been studying the moon from lunar orbit since 2009. “We’re seeing that it’s not this static dead body in the sky … it’s this great astronomical object that we have in our backyard, essentially. So people should get out and start looking at it.”
New Yorkers hoping to witness the rare astronomical event should keep their fingers crossed.
The National Weather Service forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies with a 20% chance of precipitation.
Tracking Sunday’s Supermoon Total Lunar Eclipse
9:07 p.m. – Partial eclipse begins
10:11 p.m. – Total eclipse begins
10:47 p.m. – Mid-eclipse
11:30 p.m. Total eclipse ends
Super Moon Facts
* Moon will appear 13% larger and 33% brighter than other full moons.
* Another supermoon eclipse won’t occur until 2033
* The National Weather Service is calling for mostly cloudy skies, with a low temperature around 65 degrees and a 20% chance of precipitation
