Five Cool Facts About This Sunday's Rare Total Lunar Eclipse
DENVER (CBS4) - Finally, a really cool event that you won't have to stay up all night to see!
Mark your calendar for a rare happening in the sky over Colorado this Sunday, Sept. 27.
If you're outside between 7 and 10 p.m. you'll be treated to a total lunar eclipse just after sunset.
In Denver, Sunday's eclipse will begin at 7:07 p.m and end at 10:27 p.m. mountain time. At roughly 8:47 p.m. the moon will be totally eclipsed.
In addition there are several things about this particular phase of the moon that will make it extra special.
1. It's the Harvest Moon which means the full moon that occurs closest to the Autumnal equinox.
2. It's a supermoon because the moon will be at perigee, or at it's closest point to Earth during the month. According to NASA the last time we saw a total lunar eclipse of a supermoon was in 1982. It won't happen again until 2033.
3. It's a Blood Moon because the moon will turn a burnt red-orange color. During a lunar eclipse Earth is directly between the sun and the moon. Even though Earth casts a shadow on the moon, it doesn't look totally dark because of sunlight that enters Earth's atmosphere. The light gets refracted by the atmosphere and reflected toward the moon turning it a red color.
4. It's the final of a tetrad of total lunar eclipses, or a series of four, which began in April 2014.
5. It's the last lunar eclipse of 2015. The next one visible in Colorado will be a partial lunar eclipse on March 23, 2016.
The Denver Astronomical Society will be hosting a public viewing at DU's historic Chamberlin Observatory. For more information visit their website by clicking here.
If you miss this eclipse you will have to wait awhile to see another one of this magnitude. The next total lunar eclipse visible in Denver will happen on Jan. 31, 2018.
Meteorologist Chris Spears writes about stories related to weather and climate in Colorado. Check out his bio, connect with him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter @ChrisCBS4.
