A Fantastic Total Lunar Eclipse is about 1 day away (Wed Oct 8th in the early morning). This one should offer a beautiful reddish color thanks to the eclipse occurring near and at moonset IF the cloud cover cooperates. These are the exact times of the eclipse in the NWA/RV area Oct 8th: - 4:15 AM CDT Partial eclipse starts (moon start disappearing). The moon will be in the WSW sky 35 degrees above the horizon - 5:25 AM CDT Total eclipse begins (full moon reappears and turns a copper/reddish color). The moon will getting lower (22 degrees) above the horizon in the western sky. - 5:55 AM CDT Maximum eclipse (meaning the best color display). The moon will be low (16 degrees) above the horizon in the western sky. - 6:24 AM CDT Total lunar eclipse will end (the moon will appear as a small sliver waxing crescent again and will continue to get fuller). The moon will be very low (10 degrees) above the horizon. - 7:26 AM CDT Moonset and partial eclipse will be ongoing (about 75% full) as it falls below the horizon. The point is we will see nearly the entire eclipse sequence and we will see the entire total lunar eclipse portion if we have a lack of clouds. Finally... Heres a great article on why THIS total lunar eclipse is VERY rare especially for the US EAST COAST... and Im not even talking about the 4 consecutive total lunar eclipses or Tetrad (also known as the 4 Blood Moons). Hopefully the weather corporates and we have a lack of clouds Wed morning. Enjoy the show and dont forget to post your pictures! --Dan Skoff
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 05:46:45 +0000