There is a total eclipse of the moon on the night of September 27-28, 2015. It happens to be the closest supermoon of 2015. It’s the Northern Hemisphere’s Harvest Moon, or full moon nearest the September equinox. It’s the Southern Hemisphere’s first full moon of spring. This September full moon is also called a Blood Moon, because it presents the fourth and final eclipse of a lunar tetrad: four straight total eclipses of the moon, spaced at six lunar months (full moons) apart. Phew!
The total lunar eclipse is visible from the most of North America and all of South America after sunsetSeptember 27. From eastern South America and Greenland, the greatest eclipse happens around midnight September 27-28. In Europe, Africa and the Middle East, the total eclipse takes place in the wee hours of the morning, after midnight and before sunrise September 28. A partial lunar eclipse can be seen after sunset September 27 from western Alaska, or before sunrise September 28 in far-western Asia. Photo top of post shows a partial phase of the April 14-15, 2014 total lunar eclipse byFred Espenak. Follow the links below to learn more about the 2015 Harvest Moon and the September 27-28 total lunar eclipse.
When is the September 2015 moon exactly full?
Who will see the September 27-28 total lunar eclipse?
Who will see the partial lunar eclipse?
Eclipse times in Universal Time.
Eclipse times for North American time zones.
Lunar eclipse computer courtesy of the US Naval Observatory
Eclipse calculator courtesy of TimeandDate
How is the Harvest Moon different from other full moons ?
Animation of the September 28, 2015, total lunar eclipse. Moon passes through southern half of the Earth’s shadow from west to east. Horizontal yellow line depicts the ecliptic – Earth’s orbital plane projected onto the dome of sky. The inner bull’s-eye shadow depicts the umbra (dark shadow). The penumbra (faint shadow) encircles the umbra.
Day and night sides of planet Earth at the instant of the September 2015 full moon (2015 September 28 at 2:51 Universal Time). You have to be on the night side of Earth to see the moon at the instant that it turns full, at which time it’ll be totally eclipsed by the Earth’s dark shadow.
Who will see the September 27-28 total lunar eclipse? The September 2015 full moon passes directly through Earth’s dark (umbral) shadow. The total part of this eclipse lasts for 72 minutes. A partial umbral eclipse precedes totality by some 64 minutes, and follows totality by about the same period of time, so the moon takes about 3 and 1/3 hours to completely sweep through the Earth’s dark shadow.
North America, South America, the Atlantic Ocean, Greenland, Europe, Africa and the Middle East are in a good position worldwide to watch the total eclipse of the moon. If you live in the Americas, the total eclipse happens after sunset September 27. In the world’s eastern hemisphere, the total eclipse happens after midnight and before sunrise September 28.
A very light penumbral eclipse comes before and after the dark (umbral) stage of the lunar eclipse. But this sort of eclipse is so faint that many people won’t even notice it. The penumbral eclipse would be more fun to watch from the moon, where it would be seen as a partial eclipse of the sun.
Who will see the partial lunar eclipse on September 27? A partial lunar eclipse may be visible in the haze of evening dusk on September 27 from the extreme northwestern portion of North America (western Alaska). A partial lunar eclipse might also be observed in the haze of morning dawn (September 28) from far-western Asia (Pakistan, Afghanistan, eastern Iran).
Source….Bruce McClure in www.esrthsky.org
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