Once in a very blue moon, a spectacular lunar event takes shape, leaving a stargazer with an astro-event of a lifetime.
Consider Wednesday one of those rare celestial occasions, with three lunar events, including an eclipse, taking place:
» The moon will be in total eclipse, which people will be able to see in the morning, said Krista Testin of the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s physics department.
Weather permitting, Omahans will see the first half of the total lunar eclipse. It will start at 4:51 a.m. with its early penumbra phases. Totality begins at 6:51 a.m., when the moon will start to turn reddish-orange in the lower right side. Totality will be reached at 7:29 a.m., Testin said, and the moon will set about 7:36 a.m.
The final phases of the eclipse will not be visible in the United States because the moon will have set and sunrise will occur around 7:45 a.m. Omaha time.
» The moon also will be a supermoon, appearing 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter because it will be at its perigee, or its closest point to Earth, Testin said.
» In addition, it will be the second full moon this month, called a blue moon, which describes its rarity. The moon will not appear blue; it will be reddish-orange during the total lunar eclipse, she said.
The moon orbits Earth once in about 29 days, and there are about 12 full moons each year. So about every 2½ years, a second full moon, or blue moon, occurs in a calendar month, Testin said.
“The last time that we had a blue moon total lunar eclipse was Dec. 30, 1982,’’ she said. It was not a supermoon, however.
Testin said the next blue moon total lunar eclipse will happen on Dec. 31, 2028. “The last time a super blue moon eclipse occurred in the United States was 152 years ago.’’
