It’s a Wonder – Supermoon Monday!
Tonight going into Monday will present a rare event for the earth, a supermoon lunar eclipse, which last happened 33 years ago. What happens is that the full moon makes its closest approach to the earth, appearing 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter – a supermoon – while there is also a lunar eclipse, when […]
Tonight going into Monday will present a rare event for the earth, a supermoon lunar eclipse, which last happened 33 years ago.
What happens is that the full moon makes its closest approach to the earth, appearing 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter – a supermoon – while there is also a lunar eclipse, when the moon passes directly behind the earth, into its shadow, giving it a reddish tint.
Also called a blood moon, the eclipse will last for about 1 hour and 12 minutes.This has happened only five times since 1900, and the last time was in 1982.
As one report put it, the supermoon “will cast its eerie light on the earth…creating an atmosphere of wonder and fear across the world.”
In the US, Canada, and Central and South America, the supermoon will begin on the evening of September 27. In Africa, Europe, South/East Asia, the Arctic, and in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans it starts after midnight on September 28.
The eclipse will be fully visible – if there are clear skies, of course – at 4.47 a.m. on Monday from Johannesburg and Cape Town, according to timeanddate.com.
The American space agency NASA will have a live streaming of the lunar eclipse starting at 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (2 a.m. in South Africa).