It won鈥檛 be the stars aligning, but the moon, the Earth, and the sun rather, in what is sure to be a breathtaking celestial event.
On Sunday night, a rare total lunar eclipse will be visible to sky gazers all over the world, but particularly in the Americas.
Andrew Fazekas, a National Geographic astronomy columnist, explained that a lunar eclipse is when the Earth, moon, and sun line up at the same time.
鈥淲e have that beautiful alignment of the three celestial objects and Earth鈥檚 shadow is cast on the moon,鈥� he told 麻豆传媒 Channel. 鈥淭he moon actually goes right through the shadow of the Earth. It gets gobbled up. It looks like it gets covered up by this curved shadow of our planet.鈥�
If that wasn鈥檛 enough, the eclipse will be made even more spectacular by the fact that it will be accompanied by a 鈥渟uper blood wolf moon.鈥�
To break it down, the 鈥渟uper鈥� part of the name is there because the moon will be unusually close to Earth in its orbit 鈥� the closest it can be in fact. Fazekas said this will make the moon appear approximately 16 per cent brighter and about 13 per cent larger in the sky.
鈥淚t really will be quite impressive,鈥� he said.
The 鈥渂lood鈥� part of the title is because the moon may appear to be bright orange, gold, or even a dark red shade as the moon travels deep in to the Earth鈥檚 shadow during the eclipse.
Fazekas said the colour change happens during every eclipse, but what the exact colour will be is dependent on how much particulate is in the atmosphere.
鈥淩omantically, you can think of it as all the sunrises and sunsets of the Earth being cast on to the surface of the moon simultaneously,鈥� he said.
As for the 鈥渨olf鈥� moniker, the first full moon in January is traditionally called the 鈥渇ull wolf moon鈥� in Indigenous culture, . Fazekas said the story goes that this is the time of year when wolves are howling and congregating in packs.
When to watch:
Although the exact time to watch may vary depending on location, the total lunar eclipse and the super blood wolf moon will be visible to people in North and South America, as well as Europe and Africa.
The Americas, especially, will be privy to the total eclipse in its entirety this year after missing out on last year鈥檚 total eclipse of the moon in July.
As for the timing, the total eclipse will last nearly three-and-a-half hours beginning at approximately 10:30 p.m. EST on Sunday. It鈥檚 expected to wrap up around 1:50 a.m. the next day.
For the most dramatic show, spectators should plan to watch at 12:12 a.m. EST when 鈥� when the moon will have its deepest and darkest colours 鈥� is set to take place.
How to watch:
Fazekas said it will be fairly easy for Canadians to stay up and watch the total lunar eclipse this year. He said the lunar event will be visible to the naked eye 鈥� although binoculars can be useful for a closer look.
In terms of where to watch, Fazekas said most Canadians should be able to see the eclipse just by going outside and looking up. He said it should even be easy to see for those who live in cities.
If there are cloudy skies obstructing the show, Fazekas said people can always watch by tuning into , which will be livestreaming the eclipse from four different telescopes situated on four different continents.
The next total lunar eclipse:
For anyone who can鈥檛 view Sunday鈥檚 total lunar eclipse, they鈥檒l have to be patient because the next one isn鈥檛 expected any time soon. , the next total lunar eclipse will be visible on May 26, 2021.
