Source: OregonLive.com
A historic total lunar eclipse will take place over both American continents this month, but here in western Oregon the event might very well be clouded out.
The eclipse will happen Sunday, Jan. 20, starting about 7:30 p.m. on the West Coast. Totality will begin at 8:41 p.m., peaking at 9:12 and ending at 9:43, according to a NASA forecast. During that time, the moon won’t be dark but instead will shine bright red.
This year’s lunar eclipse will be visible not only from Oregon, but from all of North, Central and South America. It will be the first pan-American total lunar eclipse since 2000 and the last until 2058, according to astronomical forecasts.
During a total lunar eclipse, all direct light to the moon is blocked by the Earth’s shadow. But some light does make it through, refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere and casting the moon in some shade of red.
Adding to the spectacle this month is the fact that the moon will be at one of its closest points to the Earth all year, an event commonly referred to as a “super moon.” A January full moon is also sometimes called a “wolf moon,” leading some to nickname this astronomical event the “super blood wolf moon.”
But here in the cloudy Pacific Northwest the big question, as…
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