Super Blue Blood Moon: A Rare Celestial Treat Tonight Wednesday Jan 31,2018

Skywatchers are set to get a rare triple treat on Wednesday Jan 31,2018  – a Supermoon, a blue moon and a total lunar eclipse

 This rare combination of lunar events will be visible to most parts of the world, including India, and one can view it with their naked eye.

A Supermoon is a full moon that takes place when the moon is at its closest distance to the Earth in the orbit

This point is known as the “perigee”

According to NASA, each Supermoon makes Earth’s natural satellite appear up to 14 percent larger, and almost 30 percent brighter

But there’s one more visual spectacle at offering – a ‘Super Blue Blood Moon’


‘Super Blue Blood Moon’, as it is being referred to, implies a combination of celestial events – blue moon, Supermoon and blood moon. 

In such an event, the moon will look bigger and brighter because it happens to be full at just about the time it makes its closest approach on a given monthly orbit of the earth. The moon will be closest to Earth on Tuesday at just over 223,000 miles (359,000 kilometres).

A blood moon is a term used to describe a total lunar eclipse, which is when the moon appears dark as it passes through Earth's shadow.

The full moon will take on a dark, reddish appearance during the eclipse, so another phrase used to describe it is a blood moon. However, the moon doesn't actually appear blue.


n India, the eclipse will start around 05:18 pm IST. It will be total at 06:21 pm and remain totally eclipsed till 07:37 pm.

Then after, the total eclipse will end and the Moon will slowly come out of the shadow of the Earth, the partial eclipse ending around 08:41 hrs. The totality of the eclipse will last for about 1 hour and 16 minutes.

In Asia, the last Blue Moon and total lunar eclipse happened on December 30, 1982.

Timings for sighting a Supermoon in India are

Mumbai
Begins: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 18:27
Maximum: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 18:59 (1.32 Magnitude)
Ends: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 21:38
Duration: 3 hours, 11 minutes

Delhi
Begins: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 17:53
Maximum: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 18:59 (1.32 Magnitude)
Ends: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 21:38
Duration: 3 hours, 45 minutes

Kolkata
Begins: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 17:16
Maximum: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 18:59 (1.32 Magnitude)
Ends: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 21:38
Duration: 4 hours, 22 minutes

Imphal
Begins: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 16:50
Maximum: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 18:59 (1.32 Magnitude)
Ends: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 21:38
Duration: 4 hours, 48 minutes

Guwahati
Begins: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 16:56
Maximum: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 18:59 (1.32 Magnitude)
Ends: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 21:38
Duration: 4 hours, 42 minutes

Chennai
Begins: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 18:04
Maximum: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 18:59 (1.32 Magnitude)
Ends: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 21:38
Duration: 3 hours, 34 minutes

Pune
Begins: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 18:23
Maximum: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 18:59 (1.32 Magnitude)
Ends: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 21:38
Duration: 3 hours, 15 minutes

Kochi
Begins: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 18:25
Maximum: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 18:59 (1.32 Magnitude)
Ends: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 21:38
Duration: 3 hours, 13 minutes

Bengaluru
Begins: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 18:15
Maximum: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 18:59 (1.32 Magnitude)
Ends: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 21:38
Duration: 3 hours, 23 minutes

According to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), the supermoon is special for 3 reasons -

 One, it’s the third in a series of “supermoons” when the Moon is closer to earth in its orbit, known as perigee.

Two, it’s also the second full moon of the month, commonly known as a “blue moon”.

 Three, the super blue moon will pass through earth’s shadow to give viewers in the right location a total lunar eclipse. While the moon passes through the earth’s shadow, it will take on a reddish tint, known as a “blood moon”.

Lunar eclipse

A lunar eclipse is a spectacular celestial show, during which the bright, pearly-white disc of the full Moon turns dark, and sometimes takes on the colour of dark copper, or even dried blood. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Sun, the Earth and the Moon are so aligned that for a period of time, the full Moon passes through the shadow of Earth in space (called Earth’s Umbra).

Why is it termed Blood Moon or Copper Moon?

During a total lunar eclipse, though the Moon gets shadowed by the Earth, sunlight passing through the Earth’s atmosphere, break down in its constituent colours and the red part gets scattered by the atmosphere and falls on the Moon's surface, thereby making it take on a reddish copper hue. For this reason since antiquity, a totally eclipsed Moon is called a “Blood Moon”. It has no other special relevance other than the fact that the colour of the Moon looks blackish-red.

Why is it called a Blue Moon?

This full Moon occurs twice in a calendar month, the last one being on January 2. The next one, on January 31, is termed a “Blue Moon”. The Moon does not turn blue but historically the second full Moon of an English calendar month is termed as a Blue Moon. Hence the oft-quoted phrase of a rare occurrence of any event as “once in a Blue Moon”.

Super Moon

The coming lunar eclipse will be more spectacular because during the eclipse, the Moon will be near its perigee (the Moon reaches its perigee on January 30 at around 15:28 hrs. IST) and hence it will look larger than an average full Moon, and is termed a Super Moon.