GOTTA SEE IT: Super blood moon, lunar eclipse on Wednesday

[spaminator]

GOTTA SEE IT: Super blood moon, lunar eclipse on Wednesday
Canadian Press
More from Canadian Press
Published:
January 29, 2018
Updated:
January 29, 2018 8:42 AM EST
VICTORIA — There will be a super blue blood moon on Wednesday and a total lunar eclipse, events that by themselves are not uncommon but combined they make for a spectacular night for skywatchers in Western Canada.
On the West Coast, the skies will feature the fantastic lunar show as the gravitational forces of the sun and moon churn up the strongest tides of the year, known as king or spring tides.
“I’m looking to put on my star gazing hat and if it’s a nice, calm evening I’d encourage everybody to go out and have a look at the super moon,” said oceanographer Richard Dewey, associate director of science services at the University of Victoria’s Ocean Networks Canada.
The super perigee full moon sets behind the CN tower in Toronto on November 14, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
“It’s one of these things that we need to know that we’re just part of a big solar system and the moon is out there as our best partner.”
A blue moon is a full moon that comes twice in the same month. During a lunar eclipse, when the moon passes into the earth’s shadow, the moon often turns red, prompting the moniker blood moon. The super moon appears larger because it’s six per cent closer to the earth and 14 per cent brighter.
All three events are happening Wednesday morning.
Dewey, an expert in coastal flows, tides, waves and turbulence, said the beauty and power of the moon and sea will be on full display.
“We’ve got tide gauges out with Ocean Networks Canada and pressure gauges and we’ll be watching to see that, yes, we’re seeing some of the largest tides of the year,” said Dewey, who has conducted research from Japan to California and along the British Columbia, Alaska and Arctic coasts.
The full moon rises over the Toronto skyline as seen from Milton, Ont., on Monday, November 14, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Blinch
Ocean Networks said its Coastbuster app, originally developed to track marine debris on B.C. shores from the March 2011 tsunami in Japan, can be used to report and comment on tidal activity, including the king tide.
“The moon is a little bit closer, so it appears a little bit bigger,” said Dewey. “It’s also aligned with the sun, so there could be places where the moon is just reaching into the earth’s shadow, so you’ll get a lunar eclipse. It’s going to be a little bit of an extraordinary sight.”
On its website NASA says a lunar eclipse can only happen on the night of a full moon. It only occurs when the sun, earth and moon are aligned and the moon passes behind the earth.
If you live in North America, Alaska or Hawaii, the eclipse will be visible before sunrise on Wednesday, the U.S. space agency says.
In Victoria, the total lunar eclipse starts at 2:51 a.m. and ends at 7:50 a.m. The eclipse will be at its maximum at 5:29 a.m.
The moon appears in the first supermoon of 2018 as seen from suburban Makati city east of Manila, Philippines on Monday, Jan. 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
Toronto residents will see a partial eclipse, starting at 5:51 a.m. and ending at 7:51 a.m.
“As an oceanographer, the super moons and the spring tides or king tides are always an interesting time when the tidal forces of the ocean are at their maximum,” Dewey said.
He said the king tides are a combination of the gravitational effects of both the sun and the moon on the earth and its oceans.
“When the sun and the moon are aligned at either a new moon or a full moon their forces are pulling together and we end up with very large tides,” Dewey said.
The tides only rise about six centimetres higher than normal, Dewey said, but if weather conditions are stormy and windy, the tides can produce waves that breach dikes and breakwaters and cause flooding.
“This is what we often worry about in December and January is a large spring tide or king tide at the same time as we get a big storm coming through.”
A combo of nine pictures shows a total lunar eclipse in Gaiberg near Heidelberg, southwestern Germany, on September 28, 2015. AFP PHOTO / DANIEL ROLANDDANIEL ROLAND/AFP/Getty Images

GOTTA SEE IT: Super blood moon, lunar eclipse on Wednesday | Toronto Sun

 

[spaminator]

First super blue blood moon in 35 years
Associated Press
More from Associated Press
Published:
January 31, 2018
Updated:
January 31, 2018 1:12 PM EST
By Marcia Dunn, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The moon put on a rare cosmic show Wednesday: a red blue moon, super big and super bright.
It’s the first time in 35 years a blue moon has synced up with a supermoon and a total lunar eclipse, or blood moon because of its red hue.
Hawaii and Alaska had the best seats, along with the Canadian Yukon, Australia and Asia. The western U.S. also had good viewing, along with Russia.
At the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, hundreds gathered on the lawn in the wee hours under clear skies. Traffic was backed up more than a mile around the observatory. Sky-gazers also lined the beach near the Santa Monica Pier, some snapping photos and others reclining in the sand, their faces turned upward.
John Cook joined fellow photography enthusiasts at the pier, using the ferris wheel and roller coaster for his foreground.
“It was incredible,” said Cook, a visual effects artist for films. Photographers also gathered at the Telegraph Hill neighbourhood of San Francisco, striving to get the famous Coit Tower in their moon shots.
In San Francisco’s Marina district, a crowd gathered to watch the super blue blood moon, as NASA calls it, set over the Golden Gate Bridge. Spectators got lucky: There were clear skies and no trace of the city’s famous fog.
“It’s very cinematic, the way the moon is changing colours and reflecting on the water,” said Clara Cambon, who arrived around 5:30 a.m. with her husband.
On the other side of the Pacific, where it was already nightfall, hundreds descended on the Tokyo Garden Terrace Kioicho complex, where telescopes and binoculars were plentiful. A TV monitor showed zoom-in views of the moon, and a university professor gave a run-down as the eclipse unfolded.
“It’s wonderful to be at this precious event and to have been able to see the moon looking so beautiful,” said Mayumi Kimura, a visitor.
The U.S. East Coast, Europe and most of South America and Africa were out of luck for the total eclipse. At Cape Canaveral, Florida, where a rocket delivered America’s first satellite to orbit exactly 60 years ago — Explorer 1 — the blue super moon loomed large in the sky.
The second full moon in a calendar month is a blue moon. This one also happened to be an especially close and bright moon, or supermoon. Add a total eclipse, known as a blood moon for its red tint, and it was a lunar showstopper.
NASA called it a lunar trifecta: the first super blue blood moon since 1982. That combination won’t happen again until 2037. For those looking ahead, the next supermoon is in February, the next blue moon is in March and the next total lunar eclipse is in July, according to NASA.
NASA lunar scientist Noah Petro said he was astonished — and thrilled — by all the attention and fuss. The total solar eclipse that swept across the U.S. in August contributed to Wednesday’s buzz, he noted. Missing out on the eclipse from his home in Virginia, he watched the event online Wednesday morning with his two children, ages 3 and 7.
“I hope that people use this as an opportunity to dig in a little more and learn about our own planet, our wonderful sister planet, the moon, and the sun and all the other great objects in the solar system,” Petro said on his way to work at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
A total lunar eclipse — considered the most scientific of Wednesday’s threesome — occurs when the sun, Earth and moon line up perfectly, casting Earth’s shadow on the moon.
Scientists were keen to study the sharp, sudden drop in temperature at the lunar surface as Earth’s shadow blankets the moon. During the more than one hour of totality, the temperature plunged 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), said Petro. He’s deputy project scientist for NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, circling the moon since 2009. His team took special precautions to keep the spacecraft warm during the eclipse.
For the trivia crowd, the moon was 223,820 miles (360,200 kilometres) away at the peak of the eclipse, close enough for supermoon status, according to NASA.
AP staffers Christopher Weber, Richard Vogel and Ringo Chiu in Los Angeles and Marcio Sanchez in San Francisco contributed to this report.
First super blue blood moon in 35 years | Toronto Sun

 

[taxslave]

Saw it yesterday morning on the way to work. Unfortunately there was some clouds and it wasn't very red by 0430

 

[petros]

Extra bright that's for sure.

 

[Jinentonix]

Yep, it was bizarre too. The emergency dept in my city was f*cking loaded with people for a Wednesday. My wife went in at 2PM for emergency surgery. She finally got in to surgery a little after 10PM as trauma case after trauma case came rolling in.
I don't know what it is but full moons and super moons really do affect human behaviour. I have my theories but that's all they are.

 

[petros]

When did welfare come out where you are?

 

[Jinentonix]

When did welfare come out where you are?

I know where you are going with that but this isn't a one-off. I've seen similar stuff before when there's a full/super moon that's not at the end of the month.
Years ago my mom used to work for the administrator of a psychiatric hospital and I remember her telling me that during full moons the place would just get nuts. No pun intended.