Observing the Blood Moon Eclipse

I went to bed slightly early last night, but first I set my alarm for 4:45 a.m. Central. As I noted a couple of days ago, I wanted to get up early to observe a total lunar eclipse.  As usually happens, I woke up early at 4:15 a.m.  Who needs an alarm?

I decided to go ahead and throw on my clothes, grab my purse and smartphone and take the van to Dillons to fill it up.  While I drove west (one mile) and north (two miles), I noted that the full moon was already missing a good chunk in the upper left-hand quadrant.  After filling up the van, I continued west on Eisenhower Road, crossing Tonganoxie Road and heading up over the ridge.  I crossed over 187th street, leaving the paved roads behind and continued until I was forced to turn left at 195th street, just south of an electrical substation (talk about light pollution out in the middle of no where).  Continue reading “Observing the Blood Moon Eclipse”

Blood Moon Total Eclipse Early Wednesday Morning (for Central Time Zone)

Central Daylight Time (October 8, 2014):

  • Partial umbral eclipse begins: 4:15 a.m. CDT on October 8
  • Total eclipse begins: 5:25 a.m. CDT
  • Greatest eclipse: 5:55 a.m. CDT
  • Total eclipse ends: 6:24 a.m. CDT
  • Partial eclipse ends: 7:34 a.m. CDT
Chart, displaying eclipse phases in Universal Time (GMT), courtesy of EclipseWise.com

There is a total eclipse of the full moon on October 8, 2014. This is the Northern Hemisphere’s Hunter’s Moon – the name for the full moon after the Harvest Moon. It’s also a Blood Moon, and this eclipse is the second in a series of four so-called Blood Moon eclipses. For North America and the Hawaiian Islands, the total lunar eclipse happens in the wee hours before sunrise on October 8.

For more information about the total eclipse and answers to questions like ‘What’s a Hunter’s Moon?”, please visit the full article at EarthySky.