CAPE CANAVER, Florida (AP) – A total lunar eclipse will brighten the night sky this weekend, providing longer-than-usual thrills for star watchers in North and South America.
The celestial action unfolds from Sunday night to early Monday morning, with the moon bathed in the reflected red and orange hues of sunsets and sunrises on Earth for about 1 1/2 hours, one of the longest aggregates of the decade. This will be the first so-called bloody moon in a year.
Spectators from the eastern half of North America and the whole of Central and South America will have key spots for the entire show, weather permitting. Partial stages of the eclipse will be visible in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Excludes: Alaska, Asia and Australia.
“It’s really an eclipse for North and South America,” said Noah Petro of NASA, a planetary geologist who specializes in the moon. “It will be a pleasure.”
All you need, he said, is patience and eyes.
A total eclipse occurs when the Earth passes directly between the moon and the sun and casts a shadow on our permanent, cosmic satellite. The moon will be 225,000 miles (362,000 kilometers) at the peak of the eclipse – around midnight on the east coast of the United States.
“This is a gradual, slow, wonderful event, and as long as it’s clear where you are, you can see it,” Petro said.
If not, NASA will provide a live broadcast of the eclipse from various locations; so will the Slooh Observatory Network.
There will be another long total lunar eclipse in November, with Africa and Europe lucky again, but not America. Then the next one is only in 2025.
Launched last fall, NASA’s Lucy asteroid spacecraft will film the event this weekend from 64 million miles (103 million kilometers) as ground controllers continue their efforts to repair a loose solar panel.
NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins, a geologist, plans to place her alarm clock early aboard the International Space Station.
“We hope we can be on time and in the right place at the right time to get a good look,” she told the Associated Press earlier this week.
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The Associated Press’s Department of Health and Science receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Scientific Education. AP is solely responsible for all content.
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