On Sunday night and
early Monday morning, much of the Earth will witness a glo`rious heavenly
event.
The night of September
27-28 will showcase a lunar eclipse coupled with a "supermoon": a
full moon that appears larger because it's at perigee, the closest point of its
orbit with Earth. The concurrence is relatively rare,having not happened since 1982.
Though some observers
are viewing the date with fear --
calling the eclipse a "blood moon" -- for astronomers and stargazers,
the event is to be welcomed with celebration.
"It's a beautiful
sight in the nighttime sky," said Mark Hammergren, an astronomer at
Chicago'sAdler
Planetarium. "It's a way of connecting us to the universe at
large. It gives us this view that there's a bigger picture than just what we're
concerned with in our daily lives."
The entire eclipse,
from first shadow to last, will be visible from most of the Americas --
including the eastern half of the United States -- Greenland, Western Europe,
western Africa north of the equator and parts of Antarctica. Other portions of
the world, including western North America, the rest of Europe and Africa and a
swath of western Asia, will see most of the drama, though they'll miss the
first or fading bites of the moon.
In the United States,
observatories are hosting a variety of festivities to showcase the eclipse and
supermoon.
The University of
Nebraska Omaha is opening its Durham Science Center observatory and planetarium to the
public, adding telescopes with smartphone adapters so visitors can
take pictures. The Kopernik Observatory & Science Center near
Binghamton, New York, the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and Hammergren's own
Adler are planning moon parties for what the Cincinnati Observatory is calling "THE astronomical event of the year."
Can't make it to a planetarium? NASA TV will
have live eclipse coverage that
you can watch in the comfort of your own home.
Or you can walk
outside.
"You don't
have to be anyplace special. If you can see the moon, you can just look
up," said the Griffith's curator, Laura Danly.
The Earth's
shadow will start making its way across the moon at 8:11 p.m. ET. The total
eclipse begins at 10:11 p.m. ET and will peak at 10:47 p.m. ET. The total
eclipse will last about 72 minutes.
A sign of turmoil?
Hammergren points out that these
astronomical events link humanity to history. We've been watching the skies for
thousands of years, creating mythology, arriving at scientific discoveries and
simply taking pleasure in the movement of celestial bodies.
"Astronomy,
in particular, is something that hooks us up to our most ancient roots,"
he said.
For some,
astronomy also provides clues to earthly futures -- and this particular
"blood moon," as some end-times believers call the lunar eclipse for
the reddish tint of the earth's shadow, is revealing of particularly troubled
times to come.
The eclipse is said to be the last of a "tetrad," four
consecutive total lunar eclipses, each separated by six lunar months, that took
place on Jewish holidays. (The first three in the current series took place
April 15, 2014; October 8, 2014; and April 4, 2015.) Some Christian ministers
have theorized that the sequence has earth-shaking significance, noting that
other tetrads took place in key years in history, including 1492 (Jewish
expulsion from Spain) and 1948 (a Mideast war).
In promotion for
his 2013 book "Four Blood Moons," Christian minister John Hagee claimed
that the tetrad was a signal being sent by God.
"The coming
four blood moons points to a world-shaking event that will happen between April
2014 and October 2015," he said.
And Mark Blitz,
head of El Shaddai Ministries and the author of "Blood Moons: Decoding the
Imminent Heavenly Signs," says God is trying to get humanity's attention
-- and we ignore it at our peril.
"There are
always the naysayers and the agnostics when it comes to God trying to reach
mankind in His urgent message to repent," he told World News Daily, which has been
charting the eclipse's arrival with headlines such as " 'Blood Moons'
expert: Get on God's calendar" and "Coming solar eclipse seen as
'judgment.' "
"Here we
have had four total lunar eclipses in a row on Passover and Tabernacles,"
he said. "And just look what is happening in the world today!"
Skeptics have
pointed out that claims made of "blood moons" -- a term that has
arisen only in the past few years, Hammergren says -- should be taken with at least a few grains of salt.
After all, their coincidence with Jewish holidays is logical, since the Jewish
calendar is a lunar calendar, and some tetrads' occurrence in significant
historical years is an example of confirmation bias: looking for connections
that fit preconceived notions.
"Some
people look at it as being a portent of doom. That is not uncommon," said
the Griffith's Danly. "But it really isn't. It is the alignment of the sun
and the moon."
Added the
Adler's Hammergren, "People have been predicting the end of the world for
thousands of years in recorded history, and not a single time has that come
about."
'It's a great entry point'
One prediction that's still being
refined is one of the most basic: the weather.
On Sunday
afternoon, CNN Weather reported that viewing conditions will be poor in the
Southeast with low visibility stretching along the Gulf Coast up into parts of
the Ohio Valley and the Mid-Atlantic.
New England will
be the exception in the East, with clear skies mostly north of Massachusetts.
The Midwest
through most of the lower Central Plains should offer fair to good conditions
for viewing, but a front is expected to move through the Northern Plains,
bringing clouds to the front's boundary from Minnesota through the Dakotas.
Out West, where the
eclipse will be partial, clear conditions are expected.
Hammergren
points out the supermoon eclipse is one of those events best viewed with the
naked eye (though binoculars can come in handy), so anywhere there's a clear
sky will do the trick.
Danly concurs.
"It is a beautiful sight," she said.
It's also a
great chance for astronomers to educate folks who may spend more time staring
down at a screen than looking up at the sky.
"It's a
great entry point," Hammergren said. " 'You think the lunar eclipse is
neat? Let me tell about this other stuff going on.' "
But don't miss
your chance at Sunday's supermoon eclipse. The next one isn't due until 2033.
No comments:
Post a Comment