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Denver Weather: Colorado Snowstorm Will Blot Out Super Moon & Dog Star Eclipse

DENVER (CBS) - Two celestial events are in the works for Monday night into Tuesday morning. Unfortunately for Denver and most of Colorado, the weather will be blotting out both big happenings in the night sky. The first is the Full "Snow" Moon! The February full moon can sometimes go by two different names, the "Snow" moon or the "Hunger Moon."

The name snow moon is thought to have originated with Native Americans that noticed the heaviest snow occurring in the month of February. The hunger moon name originated as the Hunger Moon falls at the end of winter when game is scarce and predators are particularly hungry.

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Michael Smith took this photo of the nearly-full moon setting on Nov. 28.

This will also be a "Super Moon," meaning it would appear to be a little larger. A phenomenon caused when a new or full moon is at or near its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit. This is called perigee. Technically this will happen at 8:53 am on Tuesday morning. But, if skies were clear the moon would be big and bright Monday night.

The second sky happening will be a lot quicker in coming together. The Dog Star, Sirius is typically the brightest star in the night sky this time of year. But, for a few brief seconds on Monday night an asteroid named "4388 Jurgenstock" will travel right in front of Sirius effectively making it dramatically dim for just a few seconds.

Orion and Sirius over Gore Range
Daniel McVey sent in this photo on Feb. 24. He wrote, "This is a photo of Sirius on the left with constellation Orion over the Gore Range in Summit County."

 

If skies were clear (sadly the forecast is for clouds and snow) the sight would be briefly seen over Denver and Colorado at 10:30 pm Monday night.

So it's sad to say, but most of us in Colorado won't be able to see either.

 

 

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