Super Blue Blood Moon Is at What Time in Florida

July 17, 2022 Post a Comment

T.S. Jarmusz

A blood moon comes into full view during a total lunar eclipse, like the one that will be visible locally late Sunday night. [Photo courtesy of NASA]

Stargazers will be in for a treat Sunday night when a super blood moon rules the skies.

While the event may sound like something out of a bad horror movie, it's actually a lunar eclipse that's closer than usual. This time when the moon passes through the Earth's shadow will be the first visible in Central Florida since 2015.

The peak experience occurs near midnight and is worth staying up for, said Skip Westphal, president of the Astronomy Club of Palm Coast. He's seen about 20 lunar eclipses and says they're all different because of the angles of the moon's approach and atmospheric conditions.

"It's a chance to see planets and the solar system in motion," he said. "It's a moving experience and makes you wonder about us and what we're doing here."

What makes it 'super'?

This eclipse really is "super," at least in astronomical terms, because it occurs at the moon's closest point to Earth, an extra closeness that can make the moon appear up to 14 percent larger, said Jason Aufdenberg, a professor of physics and astronomy at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

The blood moniker comes from the moon's reddish hue when it passes through Earth's shadow. Gases in the atmosphere trap and scatter blue light — the reason the sky appears blue during the day — while the mostly red light bends into Earth's shadow (the same effect that creates reddish sunrises and sunsets).

"Near sunset, the sun looks really, really red when you see it through a bunch of air," Aufdenberg said. "So if you imagine you're standing on the moon, you're seeing all the sunsets of the world falling on you."

Rare event

While lunar eclipses and super moons occur a few times every year, seeing the "blood" part of this event, which occurs during a total lunar eclipse, is a rare treat.

While total lunar eclipses aren't exactly rare, seeing one from where you live is less common because they are only visible from one side of the earth, Aufdenberg said. Last year's super blue blood moon — a much rarer type of eclipse — couldn't be seen from Daytona Beach. And the next total lunar eclipse in 2021 will be completely visible only in Asia and Australia.

[READ: Rare super blue blood moon to rule skies Wednesday morning]

The next total lunar eclipse visible from Volusia County will be on May 16, 2022, Aufdenberg said.

As for this one, Embry-Riddle's astronomy club is hosting a free public viewing party on the campus Connolly Quad, with a space-themed movie on the lawn at 8 p.m. Telescopes will be available for people to look through when the moon begins to pass behind the Earth's shadow around 10:33, with the best viewing starting about an hour later.

Unlike a solar eclipse in which unprotected viewing can hurt your eyes, it's OK to look at a lunar eclipse without special glasses. Aufdenberg said even without an eclipse the moon is worth a look.

"The moon's pretty darn fascinating even when it's not in eclipse," Aufdenberg said. "Because the moon really doesn't have an atmosphere, it's never rained on the moon, the wind has never blown on the moon, so there's really no erosion … so you're look at this surface of this record of cosmic collisions over the last four billion years, which is pretty amazing."

Here's the schedule for watching Sunday night's lunar eclipse, according to NASA:

At 9:36 p.m., the edge of the moon will dim slightly for 57 minutes as it moves deeper into the outer part of Earth's shadow.

At 10:33 p.m., the edge of the moon will begin entering the inner and darker part of the Earth's shadow. This also is when the "bite" out of the moon first occurs.

At 11:41 p.m., the total lunar eclipse begins and the moon is fully engulfed in the inner shadow, with the halfway mark occurring at 12:12 a.m.

From there, the process reverses, and at 12:43 a.m., the edge of the moon will begin exiting the inner shadow, marking the end of the total lunar eclipse.

By 1:50 a.m., the moon will be completely outside the inner shadow and start moving out of the outer shadow until the eclipse ends at 2:48 a.m.

While the forecast favors a good look, if the weather doesn't cooperate you can watch a livestream of the event at timeanddate.com.