‘Super Blue Blood Moon’ tomorrow, Jan. 31



From nasa.gov

‘If you live in the western part of North America, Alaska, and the Hawaiian islands, you might set your alarm early the morning of Wednesday, Jan. 31 for a lunar trifecta: a pre-dawn “super blue blood moon.”

Beginning at 5:30 a.m. EST on Jan. 31, a live feed of the Moon will be offered on NASA TV and NASA.gov/live. You can also follow at @NASAMoon. Weather permitting, the NASA TV broadcast will feature views from the varying vantage points of telescopes at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California; Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles; and the University of Arizona’s Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter Observatory.

“For the (continental) U.S., the viewing will be best in the West,” said Gordon Johnston, program executive and lunar blogger at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Set your alarm early and go out and take a look.”

The Jan. 31 full moon is special for three reasons: it’s the third in a series of “supermoons,” when the Moon is closer to Earth in its orbit — known as perigee — and about 14 percent brighter than usual. It’s also the second full moon of the month, commonly known as a “blue moon.” The super blue moon will pass through Earth’s shadow to give viewers in the right location a total lunar eclipse. While the Moon is in the Earth’s shadow it will take on a reddish tint, known as a “blood moon.”  (plus more info on times of the eclipse, as in: ‘In the Rocky Mountain region, the show begins as the umbra touches the edge of the Moon at 4:48 a.m. MST. The peak of the blood moon eclipse is at about 6:30 a.m. local time, and the Moon will set shortly after 7 a.m.

‘The famous ‘Earthrise’ photo from Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon. The crew entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts held a live broadcast, showing pictures of the Earth and moon as seen from their spacecraft.’

(cross-posted from café babylon.net)

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earthling1's picture

I'll try to get a photo from Vancouver, Wa. to post in the morning.
Weather permitting.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

wendy davis's picture

@earthling1

then let's hope your skies are clear! do you have to funnel your own photos thru flickr or some such to get urls for them, then embed them?

i'm so jazzed! even if i can't get out past the trees in the mornin' to see the blood moon setting in the west, oh, la luna bella will be enormous when she rises that night over our local mountain! (confession): i always howl at her and call 'la luna bella! to her when she's close to full...

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earthling1's picture

@wendy davis

If it's less than 2 mb. Resolution suffers some. But I haven't mastered the skillset of posting great photos like some of our fellow c99ers.
Will try a high res on my Samsung 6 and up load to my laptop with Windows 8.1, and then try to upload to c99%.
I'm locked out of my Flicker account because I've refused to give them multiple permissions over my entire phone.
I love a full moon. I used to ride my dirtbike across the desert under a full moon. Few things are more fun.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

wendy davis's picture

@earthling1 @earthling1 @earthling1

but

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Enjoy tomorrow because people think the world is going to end on Wednesday

Blood moons are not that uncommon (the phenomenon is caused when the Earth blocks the sun from the moon, creating a unique eclipse and reddish hue) but a 'super blue blood moon' hasn't happened for 152 years.

Basically, a 'super blue blood moon' is the result of a blue moon (the second full moon in a calendar month) occurring at the same time as a super moon (when the moon is nearest to Earth and appears about 14 per cent brighter than usual) and a blood moon. Phew.

Anyway, you're probably wondering what this has to do with a potential apocalypse. The Daily Star reports that several verses in the Bible refer to a blood moon bringing about the end of days.

They cite the verse 6:12-14 in the Book of Revelations which reads:

When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, here was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood and the stars of the sky fell to Earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.

The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

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wendy davis's picture

@gjohnsit

and teh bibble is always right! but yeah, last blood moon i poked about to find out what earlier cultures made of blood moons, but decided not to bring any of it as it seemed as though i might be making sport of 'more primitive' (?) cultures. but egads, ain't revelations an acid dream puzzle?

thanks, gjohnist. i'll be the one hidin' under the table...

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earthling1's picture

@wendy davis

during the live broadcast of the SOTU. I want to see the Orange Ones face when it happens, that would make it all worth it.
Heh heh, priceless.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

wendy davis's picture

@earthling1

that julius cheeser (donald f.u.trump) is the president? or that anyone anywhere can abide watching him speak w/ his bloated kissing gourami lips? i.can.not. i will say that i got the same way re: barack f.u. obomba, but still.

if the world ends while he's at the lectern or whatever tomorrow, he'll just think the thunderclaps and moving earth are praise for him...at first.

but yes, bring it on! far better than the slow-mo death we've locked in by poisoning/murdering this big blue-green ball of a planet.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlbxEE1Hvrg]

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wendy davis's picture

i'd gotten mr. wd a tee with this logo (grin):

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wendy davis's picture

and in the south scorpio is rising with jupiter and mars joining in. it's odd that even just before total, the top of the moon darkened. here are a couple things from nasa:

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earthling1's picture

@wendy davis

I went outside at 5 am and looked up and my eyes got all wet.
No, I wasn't crying. It was raining.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

wendy davis's picture

@earthling1

I'm so sorry the weather hadn't cooperated. it was a glorious celestial event. you might have gotten photos of la luna bella sinking red-orange into the ocean or a bay, even.

accept my commiserations, please, earthling1. we watched later on nasa teevee, but it wasn't the same.

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