Supermoon Total Lunar Eclipse 27 SEP 2015

[deluxestogie]

Supermoon Total Lunar Eclipse 27 Sep 2015

If you are in the part of the world shown at the center of this graphic:

then you may be able to observe the total lunar eclipse on Sunday night, 27 September 2015.

When and where to look:
The US Naval Observatory offers an on-line calculator that provides the timing and observation direction for this and other astronomical events.

Lunar Eclipse Times and Location: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/LunarEclipse.php

In the US, enter your state and city.

Azimuth is the compass bearing, with 90º being due east. Altitude is the angle above the horizon. So, you'll need a clear shot of the horizon to the east-southeast, about 22 to 52 degrees above the horizon. For my location, the eclipse is begins at 8:10 pm on Sunday night (27 Sep 2015), and ends at 1:24 am Monday morning.

Will the sky be clear then? If it's overcast, you won't be able to see anything. To get a rough idea of your weather conditions for that time and date, check out the 10-day weather forecast graph on Weather Underground: http://www.wunderground.com/

Enter your location, then scroll down to the 10-day weather forecast.

On the 10-day graph, you can slide your mouse across the graph (red vertical line) to see the numbers for a specific date and time.

A Model of The Solar System To Scale

This is not directly related to the lunar eclipse, but is a fun demonstration of the actual scale of our solar system.

Bob

 

[Chris A]

Pluto gets no respect.

 

[rustycase]

Tnx Bob.
...and yah, I heard about those fellows out in the desert...
Such a thing for a young buck to do... I don't have a job, so I went out there with my buddy who had a handful of marbles, a balloon, and a camera.

rc

 

[Ben Brand]

Does that mean that I wont see no eclipse, or only a partial eclipse?

 

[Gdaddy]

I enjoyed the video. Have you seen the Hubble films? The vastness of the universe is hard to get into perspective. The distances from one galaxy to another are unimaginable. The suns image we see in the sky is 8 minutes and 20 seconds old. It takes that long for the light to reach us. Taking that into consideration the oldest star cluster seen from Hubble took 10 billion light years to reach us.

 

[deluxestogie]

Does that mean that I wont see no eclipse, or only a partial eclipse?

You'll see a partial eclipse, if your weather cooperates.

Bob

 

[LewZephyr]

I saw this video earlier this week.
I felt I had always understood the vastness, but I think it really sank in when they discussed the comparison of the real sun's size to the balloon they were using when they were standing at the marble that represented earth.

Thanks for the post Bob.

 

[deluxestogie]

I got excited about the lunar eclipse too soon. My weather forecast for this Sunday night has crept, day by day, from partly cloudy to 100% chance of rain. Bummer. Maybe it will change again by then.

Bob

 

[chillardbee]

in our neck of the woods. we'll see a fully eclipsed moon rising. but realistically, we'll see rain probably. but ya never know.

 

[deluxestogie]

All is not lost. There will be another supermoon total lunar eclipse in 2033.

Bob

 

[Chicken]

ill be looking for it,

thanks for the info.

 

[DIY Pete]

As of now they are calling for clear skies in my neck of the woods so I will be up and watching. I may even pull out the telescope to see the shadow move across the face.

Pete

 

[deluxestogie]

If you can see it, consider setting up a tripod (or surrogate) to get a long exposure photo.

Bob

 

[TravisNTexas]

After I saw this tip I now have a bunch of family coming over for Mexican food and an eclipse party! Weather looks to be cooperating. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[LewZephyr]

My part of Texas (Houston) is projected to be overcast, so I will probably miss it.

 

[deluxestogie]

Expectations as of Friday afternoon--2 days to go:

Bob

 

[kullas]

Bla im in the red.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

I watched it at work, made time for it. It was pretty cool.

 

[bonehead]

ct. was a excellent viewing location. i did not have much hope because of the cloudy weather forcast but they were wrong again. if they said clear i should have worried.

 

[chillardbee]

Turns out we had very favorable skys for the rising eclipse.I didn't think it was going to stay in totality for so long after it had risen but I manage to get these shots once I got home.