Lunar Eclipse - January 20-21!!!

January 6th, 2019 | by sbieger |

This year starts off nicely with a lunar eclipse on January 20. This is a Sunday night during the MLK 3 day weekend and it will be visible to all of North America. The first stage with the penumbra visible is starting Jan 20 at 10:10PM (22:11) EST and last visible at 2:15AM (02:15) EST Jan 21.

There are two great articles from Sky & Telescope and Astronomy with details on the event. Sky & Telescope has all of the solar and lunar eclipses for 2019. There’s lots of explanatory stuff before the details for the January eclipse, about half way down the page. Astronomy breaks down the event and places it among all the major objects in the southern sky during the entire evening. So the sky map in the article is worth a study before hand.

Of course all of that is grand stuff and far easier to predict than the weather but hopefully we’ll be “in the clear” for the duration of the eclipse. Keep an eye on the weather starting late the preceding week (and keep your fingers crossed!). Assuming that sky conditions open up, make sure you have read the articles above to get the timing charts and some tips for preparation. You don’t need a telescope or even binoculars to enjoy this event. A pair of eye balls, a thermos of hot tee and some warm layers should be sufficient. Remember that you will get a chill quickly just standing around in the winter night. Things progress slowly during a lunar eclipse so you can even run inside if you get cold and then reemerge later not having missed much.

Enjoy the time under the sky. Remember that howling is perfectly allowed, too! Good luck with the weather.

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