Supermoon, Lunar Eclipse Combo Will Be 'Unique Experience' Sunday Night
BALTIMORE (WJZ)—It's not every lunar eclipse that happens during a supermoon, but it's happening Sunday night.
WJZ's Alex DeMetrick reports, the eclipse will be total, and the full moons will look larger than normal.
A supermoon low on the horizon looks huge because it's an optical illusion. Objects in the foreground trick the brain into seeing the moon bigger than it actually is.
What it is, is closer to earth.
The moon's elliptical orbit goes from apogee, furthest way, to perigee, closest.
Sunday night is perigee and the moon will look 14-percent bigger and in an "astronomical two-fer", there will also be a total eclipse!
"Having these two events happening on the same night is relatively rare. It hasn't happened since 1982 and it won't happen again until 2033," said Dr. Noah Petro, NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center.
A lunar eclipse happens when the moon passes into the earth's shadow. Sunday night just after 10 p.m., the eclipse will be total, and the supermoon will take on an orange glow.
"The same reason we see a red sunrise or sunset. Basically all of the sunrises and sunsets on the earth get projected onto the lunar surface, which gives us that red, rusty color," said Dr. Petro.
Lunar eclipses don't usually generate much hard science, but this eclipse, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, is circling the moon.
It's been mapping and studying the lunar surface. It will measure the temperature drop as the moon rapidly goes from full sunlight to darkness. For scientists that's a bonus.
Dr. Noah Petro calls Sunday's event a "unique opportunity."
If space is your final frontier, you might want to check out the Goddard Space Flight Center. They are holding an open house for the public on Saturday, for the first time in four years.
