Lunar Eclipse Visible from Valdosta!

---

Please join us at the VSU Observatory on 

27 September

on the roof at Nevins Hall

EVERYONE is invited!  

 The Full Moon closest to the start of Fall is called the Harvest Moon, and that will occur on September 27 at 10:51 pm. And, the Moon will be closest to Earth just 65 minutes earlier, giving us a Super Moon! Best of all, the Sun, Earth and Moon will be perfectly aligned to provide a coppery-red total lunar eclipse. This Sunday night will give us a Full Moon, a Super Moon, a Blood Moon!  The Full Moon closest to the start of Fall is called the Harvest Moon, and that will occur on September 27^th at 10:51 pm.  And, the Moon will be closest to Earth just 65 minutes earlier, giving us a Super Moon! Best of all, the Sun, Earth and Moon will be perfectly aligned to provide a coppery-red total lunar eclipse. This Sunday night will give us a Full Moon, a Super Moon, and a Blood Moon!  The Total Lunar Eclipse will be visible from the United States, Canada, South America, most of Europe, and western Africa. In Valdosta the partial eclipse will begin at 9:07 pm, when the Moon passes into the dark umbra of the Earth’s shadow. It will take about an hour for the Moon to move completely into the umbra and to begin to turn red, as red light passing through the Earth’s atmosphere is bent into the Moon’s path. The reddish eclipsed Moon should be visible from 10:11 until 11:23 pm, at which point the Moon will exit the umbral shadow. This is an event that is perfectly safe to observe from any location: your own backyard or the VSU Observatory atop Nevins Hall!

 This is the last of an unusual “tetrad” of four total lunar eclipses in four successive eclipse “seasons”: April 15, 2014, October 8, 2014, April 4, 2015, and September 27, 2015. We won’t see another total lunar eclipse from Earth until 2018!

 If weather permits, the campus observatory at Valdosta State University will be open for public viewing from 9:00 pm until midnight on Sunday, September 27^th. Other celestial wonders, including the planet Saturn, will also grace our sky! Visitors should use the stairs or elevator at the southeastern entrance of Nevins Hall to reach the 4^th floor.  For more information, please contact the Department of Physics, Astronomy and Geosciences at 229-333-5752.

 We hope to see you!