Bradleigh-Ann Walker
Senior Content Editor
If you’ve never witnessed a lunar eclipse and are willing to stay up into the early morning hours to see it, your next opportunity is coming up.
NASA reports that a total lunar eclipse will occur on Tuesday, April 15, first as a partial eclipse at 1:58 am EST, and then as a total eclipse from 3:07 am to 4:25 am. It should be visible to most of North and South America.
A ‘total eclipse’ means that the Earth is between the sun and the moon.
Native Americans refer to this phenomenon as a “full pink moon”, their name for an eclipse occurring in April. It doesn’t actually mean that the moon will be pink, but this one in particular will actually have a reddish hue surrounding it.
“While the Moon remains completely within Earth’s umbral shadow, indirect sunlight still manages to reach and illuminate it. However, this sunlight must first pass deep through the Earth’s atmosphere which filters out most of the blue colored light. The remaining light is a deep red or orange in color and is much dimmer than pure white sunlight. Earth’s atmosphere also bends or refracts some of this light so that a small fraction of it can reach and illuminate the Moon,” according to “Lunar Eclipses for Beginners” by Fred Espenak.
For more on the April 15 eclipse, check out NASA’s website.
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