Tonight, or rather, in the early hours of tomorrow, the full moon will move right into the Earth’s shadow for sky watchers in Malta and the rest of the world (except far eastern regions like Australia and Japan).
A brilliant full moon will rise in the east this evening at 6.32pm. It will be what is called a ‘Super harvest moon’ – ‘super’ because the moon turns full at around the same time at which it is closest to the Earth (perigee), thus appearing slightly larger (though unnoticeable to the naked eye), and ‘harvest’ because it is the full moon closest to the beginning of autumn (the autumnal equinox). For people in the southern hemisphere it will be the first full moon of spring.
However, the moon will still be far away from the Earth’s shadow and it is only at 2.10am when the moon will start creeping into the tenuous penumbral shadow of the Earth. This phase, however, will be barely perceptible to the naked eye and one will need to wait for the darker part of the eclipse (umbral), which will begin around an hour later at 3.07am. The moon will be in a southwesterly direction in the faint constellation Pisces, but close to the ‘Great Square’ of Pegasus.
For the next hour, the moon will move deeper and deeper into the Earth’s shadow until totality begins at 4.11am and it will turn a deep shade of orange-red. It reaches its darkest stage at 4.48am (mid-eclipse), which is also the instant at which full moon occurs. Around this time, have a look towards the south – you will see the great constellation Orion flanked by the very bright planet Venus low towards the east.
Following mid-eclipse the moon shall then start moving off of the Earth’s shadow and into the sunshine, at 5.23am. The umbral eclipse will end at 6.27am and sunrise occurs shortly after at 6.53am. To avoid waking up at 3am to watch the initial part of the eclipse one may set the alarm clock at 4.30am – this would be a good idea to be able to see the totally eclipsed super harvest moon followed by the latter phases of the event.
The moon glows with this eerie reddish hue during a total lunar eclipse because of light bent onto it through the Earth’s shadow, by the atmosphere. It is as if the moon is being lit up by every sunrise and sunset on the Earth at that moment, combined and projected onto the moon. No two eclipse colours are quite exactly the same because dust content and clouds in the Earth’s atmosphere are always changing and these have a dramatic effect on the darkness of any lunar eclipse.
At the same time of the eclipse a few planets will be visible in the east. Use bright Venus as a guide and you can see also Jupiter rising below it at around 5am. Mid-way between the two planets one can find the red planet, Mars, which is now quite faint as it is very far away from the Earth. All three planets lie in the constellation Leo.
Lunar eclipses are fun to watch with the unaided eye, requiring no eye protection (unlike solar eclipses). Any pair of binoculars will offer superb views of this event. If you miss it you will have to wait until July 27, 2018, for the next one.
Post your images of the eclipse shot with a camera or even with a smartphone on the Astronomical Society of Malta’s Facebook page below.
www.facebook.com/groups/maltastro
Astronomical events this month
Next Sunday at 11.06pm – Last quarter moon.
Oct 8 – Venus close to the moon.
Oct 9 – Mars and Jupiter close to the moon.
Oct 11 – Moon at apogee: 406,389km away.
Oct 12 – Uranus closest to Earth.
Oct 13 at 2.06am – New moon.
Oct 16 – Saturn close to the moon.
Oct 20 at 10.31pm – First quarter moon.
Oct 21 – Orionid meteor shower peak.
Oct 26 at 2.59pm – Moon at perigee: 358,464km away.
Oct 27 at 2.05pm – Full moon.
Alexei Pace is president of the Astronomical Society of Malta.