See The Super Blue Moon Turn Red In Minnesota Wednesday

TWIN CITIES, MN — Three events that haven’t coincided in the United States in more than 150 years will take place this week. The amazing lunar event — a blue moon, supermoon and total lunar eclipse causing a “blood” moon on the same night — will occur in the early morning hours of Wednesday, Jan. 31.

Whether you’ll be able to see the lunar eclipse and the supermoon depends on where you live and the local weather forecast. The Twin Cities will be partly cloudy Wednesday night but could clear up by early Thursday morning.

“Weather permitting, the West Coast, Alaska and Hawaii will have a spectacular view of totality from start to finish,” Gordon Johnston, program executive and lunar blogger at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in a statement.

In the prime viewing areas like California, the total lunar eclipse will be visible from start to finish just before sunrise on the morning of Jan. 31. The best time to see it is around 4:51 a.m. PST, and totality will last until 6:05 a.m. The reddish shadow should be visible around 6:15 a.m.

“Unfortunately,” Johnston said, “eclipse viewing will be more challenging in the Eastern time zone. The eclipse begins at 5:51 AM ET, as the moon is about to set in the western sky, and the sky is getting lighter in the east.”

Viewers in New York or Washington, D.C., may see something, but not much, according to NASA. The darker part of the Earth’s shadow will begin to blanket part of the moon with a reddish hue around 6:48 a.m. EST, but the moon will set less than a half hour later.

“So your best opportunity if you live in the East is to head outside about 6:45 a.m. and get to a high place to watch the start of the eclipse—make sure you have a clear line of sight to the horizon in the west-northwest, opposite from where the Sun will rise,” Johnston said.

In the Central time zone, the chances to see the lunar eclipse are a bit better because it begins when the moon is higher in the western sky. The lighter part of the Earth’s shadow, called the penumbra, will touch the moon around 4:51 a.m. CST, and by 6:15 a.m., the Earth’s reddish shadow will be clearly noticeable on the moon. As dawn breaks, it will become a little harder to see, and the moon sets around 7 a.m.

“So if you live in Kansas City or Chicago, your best viewing will be from about 6:15-6:30 a.m.,” Johnston said. “Again, you’ll have more success if you can go to a high place with a clear view to the West.”

In the Rocky Mountain region, the umbra touches the edge of the moon around 4:48 a.m., MST. The blood moon eclipse peaks around 6:30 a.m. local time, and the moon sets just after 7 a.m.

A lunar eclipse can only happen at a full moon, and can occur a minimum of two times to a maximum of five times in a calendar year — there will be five lunar eclipses in 2018, according to Earthsky.org, but only the Jan. 31 lunar eclipse will be visible in the United States. The next time a total lunar eclipse will be visible in North America is Jan. 21, 2019, and it will be visible throughout all of the United States. It will also be a supermoon, but it won’t be a blue moon.

The eclipse aside, the supermoon will be spectacular, though appearing smaller than the two that preceded it. Check local moonrise times here.

What do all those terms mean?

Supermoon: As NASA explains it, that’s when the moon reaches its closest point to Earth in its orbit, known as perigee, in a single orbit. The moon appears about 14 percent brighter than usual, and it also looks larger as it rises.

Blue moon: That’s the common name for the second full moon in a single month, but the moon does not take on a blue color. The first full moon of the month, also a supermoon,was on Jan.1. The occurrence of a blue moon means there won’t be a full moon in February. But March also has a blue moon.

Lunar eclipse: A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes through the Earth’s shadow, blocking the sun’s light, which would otherwise reflect off the moon. The most dramatic of the types of eclipses — total, partial and penumbral — is the total lunar eclipse, in which the Earth’s shadow completely covers the moon.

Total eclipse of the moon: The inner part of the Earth’s shadow, the umbra, falls on the moon’s face, completely obstructing it.

Partial lunar eclipse: The umbra takes only a bite out of the moon. The bite grows larger, and then recedes, but never completely shadows the moon.

Penumbral lunar eclipse: When this occurs, only the diffuse outer shadow of the Earth falls on the moon, and it’s difficult to observe because the Earth doesn’t appear to take a bite out of the moon. The moon takes on a darker shade at mid-eclipse, but most people won’t notice it.

Blood moon: While the moon is in the Earth’s shadow, it takes on a reddish tint. As NASA explained, “Some sunlight still reaches the moon [during a total lunar eclipse], but first it goes through Earth's atmosphere. The atmosphere filters out most of the sun’s blue light, so the moon looks red.”

For some historical perspective, the last time a supermoon, blue moon and lunar eclipse coincided, on March 31, 1866, President Andrew Johnson was in the White House, America was about a year into Reconstruction from the Civil War and Congress was gathering votes to override Johnson’s veto of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the first federal legislation to protect the rights of African-Americans, which Congress had overwhelmingly passed (it did override the veto, on April 9, 1866).

In more recent times, the Eastern Hemisphere saw the trifecta on Dec. 30, 1982.

No matter where you live, NASA offers a live stream of the lunar eclipse.

» See Also: 2018 Guide To Meteor Showers And Other Celestial Events

Photo credit: AP Photo/Armando Franca