Lunar eclipse will turn the moon a ruddy hue early Tuesday

  • By Mike Lynch Herald Columnist
  • Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:42pm
  • Life

So with the income tax deadline coming up this Tuesday many of you have come to the conclusion that you think our ever-loving IRS is bleeding you dry! Well, If you’re up after midnight struggling to find deductions, legitimately and legally of course, the full moon will empathize with you as it turns blood red, or could it be our April full moon being audited?

Seriously though, this Tuesday the moon will start turning red shortly after midnight as we have our first total lunar eclipse visible to the entire continental United States since December of 2011. It’s been quite a drought, but this year we’re making up for it with two total lunar eclipses; the income tax day eclipse this week and another lunar cover-up later this year on Oct. 8.

Let’s pray and hope for clear skies over Everett because it’s great spectacle, especially during the nearly 90 minutes of totality. It’s easy since you don’t need any special equipment to take in the show. You don’t need to view it through a dark welder’s glass or to project the image of the eclipse through a pinhole onto a piece of paper as you do for solar eclipses. It’s perfectly safe to stare directly at lunar eclipses for as long as you want with your naked eyes. A word of caution though … staring at any full moon can bring about a little madness in some people, but let’s face it, you may be mad anyway if you’re cramming to get your taxes done on time. Nondeductible insanity may be setting in.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

Lunar eclipses are wonderful events, and even though we haven’t had one in three years, lunar eclipse are also a lot more frequent than solar eclipses. They can be seen anywhere in the world where the full moon is visible during the time of the eclipse.

As you can see in the diagram, lunar eclipses occur when the moon, in its monthly orbit around our Earth, passes through the shadow produced by our planet. This can only happen when the moon is full. Normally with full moons the side of the moon facing the Earth is in full sunshine, but during a lunar eclipse the moon slips into Earth’s shadow. This doesn’t happen every time there’s a full moon though, because the moon’s orbit around the Earth is inclined by five degrees to the Earth’s orbit around the sun.

Most months the full moon misses the 6,000-mile-wide shadow, known as the umbra, but not this coming Tuesday morning.

The great lunar cover up gets started at 10:57 p.m. when the moon makes its first contact with the umbra shadow in the southwest sky. You’ll start to notice the left side of the moon begin to darken. The partial eclipse is on and the moon sinks deeper into the umbra, sliding from right to left.

By 12:06 a.m. the moon’s disk will be completely into the umbra shadow and stays in there until 1:25 a.m.. After that the moon commences its slow exit from the umbra and is completely free from the shadow by 2:33 a.m. The eclipse officially ends and you’ll have a chance to take that power nap before you have to go to school or work, or get back to your unrelenting taxes.

The moon doesn’t totally black out during lunar eclipses because the Earth’s shadow is not totally dark. Strained sunlight finds its way to the moon through the shell of atmosphere that covers our Earth. Most of the blue and yellow components of the sun’s light are scattered by Earth’s atmosphere, leaving only a reddish glow sent in the direction of the moon.

This same effect causes reddish-orange sunrises and sunsets and has the same effect on moonrises and moonsets.

Totally eclipsed moons can vary in their degree of redness. Some have more of an orange hue and some can be a much darker shade of red.

It really depends on atmospheric conditions. The murkier the atmosphere from where you’re watching, the darker the eclipse. How red and how dark the moon will get Tuesday morning is just something you’ll just have to wait and see. It’s all part of the fun of witnessing lunar eclipses.

As a huge bonus, while you’re watching the eclipse early Tuesday you can’t help but notice two bright stars next to the eclipsed moon. The star just to the lower right of the shadowy moon is the star Spica, the brightest star in the large but faint constellation, Virgo the Virgin. The eclipsed moon is about 237,000 miles from Earth on Tuesday morning, but Spica is much, much farther away at nearly 263 light years distant. Just one light year, the distance a beam of light travels in one year, is nearly 6 trillion miles! The light you see from Spica left that star in 1751, before our founding fathers signed The Declaration of Independence.

There’s another even brighter “star” a little farther away from the moon, to the upper right with a very distinct bright orange-red hue.

That’s actually the planet Mars at a little over 57 million miles away, the closest it’s been to Earth in more than two years. As I told you last week Mars is in what astronomers call opposition, when it’s at the opposite end of the sky from the sun, just like a full moon, and Mars is at its minimum distance to Earth in a 26-month cycle. If you have a small to moderate telescope check out Mars. You may get a look at the surface features on the planet, but don’t have too high of expectations. At best the valleys and mountain ranges will show up only as fuzzy dark patches on the ruddy surface.

Don’t miss the great 2014 income tax lunar eclipse show Tuesday morning, co-starring Mars and the bright star Spica, even if it taxes your beauty sleep.

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and is author of the book, “Stars, a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations” published by Adventure Publications available at bookstores at http://www.adventurepublications.net

If you have any astronomical questions or want me to write about something you’re seeing the night sky drop me a line at mikewlynch@comcast.net

The Everett Astronomical Society welcomes new members and puts on public star parties. Their website is www.everettastro.org

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Photo courtesy of Kristi Nebel
Folk duo Steve and Kristi Nebel will be among the musical acts performing at the Edmonds Arts Festival, which takes place Friday through Sunday.
Photo courtesy of Kristi Nebel
Folk duo Steve and Kristi Nebel will be among the musical acts performing at the Edmonds Arts Festival, which takes place Friday through Sunday.
Coming events in Snohomish County

Send calendar submissions for print and online to features@heraldnet.com. To ensure your… Continue reading

Cascadia College Earth and Environmental Sciences Professor Midori Sakura looks in the surrounding trees for wildlife at the North Creek Wetlands on Wednesday, June 4, 2025 in Bothell, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Cascadia College ecology students teach about the importance of wetlands

To wrap up the term, students took family and friends on a guided tour of the North Creek wetlands.

Kim Crane talks about a handful of origami items on display inside her showroom on Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Crease is the word: Origami fans flock to online paper store

Kim’s Crane in Snohomish has been supplying paper crafters with paper, books and kits since 1995.

A woman flips through a book at the Good Cheer Thrift Store in Langley. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Pop some tags at Good Cheer Thrift Store in Langley

$20 buys an outfit, a unicycle — or a little Macklemore magic. Sales support the food bank.

Audi SQ8 Wows In Motion Or At Rest. Photo provided by Audi America MediaCenter.
2025 Audi SQ8 Is A Luxury, Hot Rod, SUV

500 Horsepower and 4.0-Second, 0-To-60 MPH Speed

The Mukilteo Boulevard Homer on Monday, May 12, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
‘Homer Hedge’: A Simpsons meme takes root in Everett — D’oh!

Homer has been lurking in the bushes on West Mukilteo Boulevard since 2023. Stop by for a selfie.

Sarah and Cole Rinehardt, owners of In The Shadow Brewing, on Wednesday, March 12, 2025 in Arlington, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In The Shadow Brewing: From backyard brews to downtown cheers

Everything seems to have fallen into place at the new taproom location in downtown Arlington

Bar manager Faith Britton pours a beer for a customer at the Madison Avenue Pub in Everett. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Burgers, brews and blues: Madison Avenue Pub has it all

Enjoy half-price burgers on Tuesday, prime rib specials and live music at the Everett mainstay.

Ellis Johnson, 16, left, and brother Garrett Johnson, 13, take a breather after trying to find enough water to skim board on without sinking into the sand during opening day of Jetty Island on Friday, July 5, 2019 in Everett, Wash. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Epic ways to spice up your summer

Your ultimate guide to adventure, fun and reader-approved favorites!

Everett High School graduate Gwen Bundy high fives students at her former grade school Whittier Elementary during their grad walk on Thursday, June 12, 2018 in Everett, Wa. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
‘Literally the best’: Grads celebrated at Everett elementary school

Children at Whittier Elementary cheered on local high school graduates as part of an annual tradition.

A bear rests in a tree in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. (U.S. Forest Service)
Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest transitioning to cashless collections on June 21

The Forest Service urges visitors to download the app and set up payments before venturing out to trailheads and recreation sites.

The 2025 Jeep Gladiator pickup, in one of its more outrageous colors (Provided by Jeep).
2025 Jeep Gladiator is a true truck

The only 4x4 pickup with open-air abilities, Gladiator is more than a Wrangler with a bed.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.