ST. GEORGE — As Election Day dawns across this part of planet Earth, the heavens above will be particularly active when November’s full moon turns crimson. This total lunar eclipse, a six-hour spectacle, will be visible across North America – the last of its kind until 2025.
Those living in Southern Utah will need to wake up early Tuesday morning if they want to enjoy the total lunar eclipse. The moon will be at its maximum phase of the eclipse shortly after 4 a.m., which is also the brightest phase of the lunar satellite’s fateful journey between the Earth and the sun, at which time the moon will appear red. Visibility, however, is dependent on clear skies.
Southern Utah has some of the best seats in the house for this celestial showing since the further west the better. And this event comes with an opening show, as Uranus, the aqua-blue ice giant, will be nestled close to the moon and appear as a bright star, according to NASA.
A total lunar eclipse occurs when the moon’s orbit intersects with Earth’s shadow as Earth moves between the sun and moon and blocks any direct sunlight from shining on the cratered face of the moon.
Instead of making the moon disappear, however, some of the sunlight escapes around the periphery of the Earth and is cast toward the lunar surface. The moon and the sun are also on opposite sides of the Earth during a total lunar eclipse. During a partial eclipse, only a portion of the moon falls in the Earth’s shadow, NASA says.
No special equipment is needed to observe a lunar eclipse, just a dark sky to serve as the backdrop for this lunar event, although a pair of binoculars or a telescope will provide a clearer view and enhance the crimson color as the moon dips deeper into the shadows.
Lunar eclipse fun facts
The same phenomenon that makes the sky blue and sunsets red is what causes the moon to turn red during a lunar eclipse, which is known as Rayleigh scattering and refers to the means in which light travels. Since light travels in waves, different colors of light have unique physical properties that determine the speed at which they travel. As such, blue light has a shorter wavelength and is scattered more easily by particles in Earth’s atmosphere than red light, which has a longer wavelength.
As such, red light travels more directly through the atmosphere and when the sun is overhead, blue light shines across the sky. But when the sun is setting, sunlight must pass through more atmosphere and travel farther before reaching the human eye, while blue light scatters away – leaving the longer-wavelength red, orange and yellow light to pass through.
A solar eclipse happens on a new moon, when the moon passes between the sun and Earth, while a lunar eclipse happens at a full moon when the Earth moves between the sun and moon. The last total lunar eclipse occurred May 15, 2022.
Additionally, a solar eclipse is always paired with a lunar eclipse, because during the solar eclipse, when the moon is in the middle, a new moon crosses the ecliptic from south to north. But a half orbit earlier, the full moon crosses at the opposite node, where Earth is in the middle, from north to south, encountering the Earth’s shadow along the way. So a solar eclipse is always preceded by a lunar eclipse, according to Britannica.
Furthermore, an eclipse always involves the alignment of three celestial bodies in a gravitational system where there is a straight-line configuration, something the Greeks called ‘syzygy,’ which means ‘yoked together.” And this year’s event will also be accompanied by a four-planet alignment led by Mercury, with Venus, Saturn and Uranus following closely behind.
A total lunar eclipse occurs approximately once every 1.5 years on average, but stargazers should take advantage of November’s eclipse because the next total lunar eclipse will not occur until March 25, 2025. NASA will also be live-streaming the event.
Lunar eclipse viewing in Southern Utah – all times in MDT
- The penumbral eclipse begins on Tuesday at 1:02 a.m.
- Partial eclipse begins at 2:09 a.m., and may be visible as it touches the horizon
- The total lunar eclipse begins when the moon is engulfed in Earth’s shadow, at 3:16 a.m., and will be visible from Southern Utah, weather permitting.
- Maximum eclipse can be seen at 3:59 a.m.
- Full eclipse ends at 4:41 a.m.
- Partial eclipse ends at 5:49 a.m.
- Penumbral eclipse ends at 6:56 a.m.
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