Total lunar eclipse Sunday January 20 will be 'Super Blood Wolf Moon'
Starting Sunday evening, Jan. 20, 2019, North and South America will have a chance at seeing 2019's only total lunar eclipse, from start to finish.
Our Earth, Moon and Sun line up on Sunday night for the only total lunar eclipse of of the year. Catch it if you can.
And especially because it's a "supermoon." That's when the moon is closer to Earth, and therefore looks larger and more bright than it normally does.
Weather in much of the United States during the eclipse is expected to make for challenging viewing conditions, but you never know.
"This one is particularly good," Rice University astrophysicist Patrick Hartigan tells the AP in this story. "It not only is a supermoon and it's a total eclipse, but the total eclipse also lasts pretty long. It's about an hour."
The whole eclipse starts Sunday night or early Monday, depending on location , and will take about three hours.
It begins with the partial phase around 10:34 p.m. EST Sunday. That's when Earth's shadow will begin to nip at the moon. Totality - when Earth's shadow completely blankets the moon - will last 62 minutes, beginning at 11:41 p.m. EST Sunday.
If the skies are clear, the entire eclipse will be visible in North and South America, as well as Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Portugal and the French and Spanish coasts. The rest of Europe, as well as Africa, will have partial viewing before the moon sets.
During totality, the moon will look red because of sunlight scattering off Earth's atmosphere. That's why an eclipsed moon is sometimes known as a blood moon. In January, the full moon is also sometimes known as the wolf moon or great spirit moon.
So informally speaking, the upcoming lunar eclipse will be a super blood wolf - or great spirit - moon.
This map [PDF] is a good reference point for viewing.