Lunar Eclipse: The Super Blue Blood Moon Edition (Credit: Sky & Telescope, NASA, Taiwan News)1/22/2018   DISCUSSION: On January 31, 2018, the next total lunar eclipse is expected to occur. This has significance because this comes at a time when the moon will be “super” and “blue” (particularly for parts of Asia and the Pacific Rim).
A “supermoon” is when there is a full moon and is closest to Earth in its elliptical orbit, giving it a larger and brighter appearance than normal. A “blue moon” refers to when two full moons occur in a single month. At the time of a total lunar eclipse, the Earth casts its shadow over the moon. However, the moon will still be visible because of light refracted through the Earth’s atmosphere, giving it a reddish color. People in places like Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates are excited since the countries lie in optimal viewing locations, and this package of lunar phenomena hasn’t occurred since the early 1900s. Other lucky viewing locations include the Philippines, New Zealand, Russia, Japan, China, Korea, Mongolia, and most of Australia and Indonesia. Those in North America may still be able to salvage from the eclipse. Areas west of the Mississippi have the best chance of viewing at least a partial eclipse. The areas that have the best chance of viewing a total eclipse include Hawaii, Alaska, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, most of British Columbia, parts of Nunavut and northwest Washington. Unfortunately for the rest of those not in a location to view the cosmic show, they must wait until January 20, 2019 for the next total lunar eclipse. Click here to learn more about January’s Total Lunar Eclipse. To learn more about space-weather related stories, click here! ©2018 Meteorologist Nicholas Quaglieri
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 CLICK ABOVE FOR VIDEO: Beginning on January 6th, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory caught an incredible solar prominence: a large, bright gaseous feature of cooler plasma anchored to the solar surface.
In order to see such a prominence, which is often in a loop shape, the Sun was viewed in light at 304 Angstroms to see the light emitted from the chromosphere, the middle layer of the Sun's atmosphere. This wavelength captures light that is emitted from the chromosphere and transition region of the Sun's atmosphere by He II at about 50,000 Kelvin. Just as a rough estimate, this prominence, which started on the southeast limb of the Sun, probably extended about 100,000 kilometers or so (nearly eight Earth diameters!) into the Sun's outer atmosphere, called the corona, before collapsing on about 8:00 pm EST on January 7th. The current Earth's facing solar disk appears to be quiet as we headed into solar minimum: there is no major risk for solar flares or increased levels of solar energetic particles at this time. To learn more about space-weather related stories, click here! © 2017 Meteorologist Chris Stubenrauch |
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