A Supermoon and Lunar Eclipse Will Light Up and Darken Tuesday’s Night Sky
The New York Times
Earth’s shadow will partially cover one of the biggest and brightest full moons this year.
The night sky on Tuesday will treat us to a partial lunar eclipse during a supermoon. It’s an astronomical wonder that almost anyone in the Western Hemisphere under clear skies can experience, and it’s the latest reminder that our home planet is part of a bigger cosmic system.
This lunar eclipse will happen between 8:41 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday and 12:47 a.m. on Wednesday, with the maximum partial phase occurring at 10:44 p.m. It will be visible across most of the United States, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Europe.
Bruce Betts, the chief scientist at the Planetary Society, will be watching the show from his front yard in Pasadena, Calif.
Eclipses offer a chance to feel “the three-dimensional nature of everything,” Dr. Betts said. “It’s something that just in a visceral way is like, wow.”
People in states bordering the Mississippi River may have the best shot at an unobstructed view of the eclipse, with the skies forecast to become more clear as the event goes on. In addition, the Southern Rockies and the Southwest will have a beautiful evening for enjoying the event.
Up and down the East Coast, the likelihood of getting a glimpse of the moon through the cloud cover will be slim this evening, especially in the mid-Atlantic region. A few places, like portions of northern Maine, southern Georgia and north Florida, may have a chance.
