THEWIRE

What’s In The Sky?

By Olivia Henning

 

On Tuesday morning, sky-watchers across the Americas will have front row seats to a rare total lunar eclipse beginning at 12:54 a.m. and lasting until 6:38 a.m.  

 

During a full eclipse, sunlight passes through the Earth’s atmosphere before hitting the moon, resulting in a glowing red colour. 

 

The “blood moon” is a part of a tetrad, a series of four consecutive total eclipses that happen in six-month intervals. The next eclipse will be on October 8, another on April 4 and ending on September 28, 2015. 

 

“The most unique thing about the 2014-2015 tetrad is that all of them are visible for all or parts of the USA,” said NASA eclipse expert Fred Espenak.

 

People living in India, Eastern Africa, or most of Russia, will be unable to see any part of the lunar eclipse.

 

Anyone unable to see the eclipse can see it streamed live on the web by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

 

Tuesday night will also be the night Mars makes its closest approach to Earth. The two planets will be only 92 million kilometers away.

 

Mars should be visible all month long, even for people who are live near a lot of light pollution and can’t normally see stars. 

 

The Lyrid Meteor Shower will be visible from all over the world April 16-25. The 22nd will be the peak of the meteor shower with over 20 meteors an hour. These meteors will appear to be dusty and have bright tails that seem to linger in the air.

 

For more information, head over to nasa.gov