minipost
You probably won’t notice the supermoon status of the moon for the upcoming lunar eclipse.. The orbit is elliptical so the Moon’s apparent size changes by about 14% (the Sun changes by about 3%) .. unless you’re on very familiar terms with the Moon, you’re unlikely to notice the difference.
But the eclipse… now that’s worth watching! Syzygy is the wonderful term used to describe an alignment of three or more bodies. In the case of a lunar eclipse the Earth is between the Sun and the moon. The eclipses are long due to the size of the Earth compared to the moon and the moonlight reflected back to us has to make it’s way through the ring of atmosphere surrounding the Earth. For the same reason the sky is blue most of the light that makes it to the Moon is on the red end of the spectrum. Local stuff in the air around the Earth as well as the air over you can change the nature of the colors. They’re basically reddish, but can be copper colored, rust, brownish and even brick red. The colors can shift through the eclipse and sometimes it can even be difficult to see the moon in mid eclipse.
The naked eye is just fine, but if you have a pair of binoculars it’s even better. If you’re interested in looking at the night sky, binoculars are usually a better bet than a telescope. I’ll be happy to give recommendations of what to look for.
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after posting this a question arrived.. here it is and my answer
Q Why should I get excited about the lunar eclipse?
A You can’t overstate how exciting the Universe is! Check this out: there’s this huge rock orbiting around a point a thousand miles below the Earth’s surface that the Earth orbits around too. A giant rock! And we can see it! And then we get exactly between it and this huge fusion reactor that can burn for ten billion years and gives us life even though it’s power density is about the same as a lizard’s. How cool is that?
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