On September 27, a ‘Supermoon’ eclipse will take over the sky. This a particularly unusual event due to the last one occurred thirty three years ago and the next will not happen until 2033. A ‘blood moon’ will be appreciated in the eastern sky as the celestial event progresses.
For this scenario to take place three matching celestial circumstances are needed: a complete lunar eclipse, which is the moon emerging in the Earth’s shadow – a full moon – and a lunar perigee, that is when the moon’s path around the Earth is elliptical, with one side of the orbit closer to Earth than the other.
Furthermore, it will be the biggest full moon, according to its size, of the year – and as it will be lunar perigee, the moon will be shown at its closest point to the earth which is 356,877 kilometers away. Viewers will be able to admire the celestial body for more than an hour, as NASA reported
“Because the orbit of the moon is not a perfect circle, the moon is sometimes closer to the Earth than at other times during its orbit. When the moon is farthest away it’s known as apogee, and when it’s closest it’s known as perigee. On Sept. 27, we’re going to have a perigee full moon—the closest full moon of the year.” reportedly said Noah Petro, deputy project scientist for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
A big portion of the Earth’s inhabitants will be able to witness such particular event, an oval circle burning red in front of their eyes. So the lucky ones are on billion people in the Western Hemisphere, another 1.5 billion all through Europe and Africa – and 500 million in the western Asia. That is more than half of our celestial body or better known as our “planet” population.
However, people who are not able to watch the supermoon lunar eclipse due to their planetary position, the community observatory “Slooh” will broadcast the event in their official website.
In addition, night sky addicts will not have to use a mask when the event begins. “Earth’s shadow will begin to dim the supermoon slightly beginning at 8:11 p.m. EDT. A noticeable shadow will begin to fall on the moon at 9:07 p.m., and the total eclipse will start at 10:11 p.m.” lasting one hour and 12 minutes to be precise. Don’t miss these planetary dynamics, which will leave you watching to the sky for more than half an hour.
“The only thing that will happen on Earth during an eclipse is that people will wake up the next morning with neck pain because they spent the night looking up.” Petro reportedly said.
Source: NASA