We will have two blue moons this year, one coming up at the end of January, the second at the end of March. But, that’s not enough—our next full moon will be totally eclipsed in our region, creating a coppery red moon face, or “blood” moon. So, it’s a Blue Blood Moon.
But, apparently it will be a super moon as well, closer to Earth than usual. That makes it a Super Blue Blood Moon.
Too cool!
A “Super Blue Blood Moon” (Image: NASA.gov).
For all the information on it, check the NASA site. Looks like they’re going to have a live video of it as well.
That’s awfully tempting. We might have clear skies early tomorrow morning, but there are mitigating factors.
First, it’s going to be early. The event starts at 1:51 a.m. our time, hits maximum at 4:29 a.m., and ends around 6:11 a.m. This is on a work night for Michelle and Aly.
Second, it’ll be cold! Our forecasts call for storm force winds. In Alaska, “storm force” means wind strengths that most of the Lower 48 call “hurricane force”: 50 knots (57.5+ m.p.h.) with gusts to 65 knots (74.8+ m.p.h.). That’s if it drops to tonight’s forecast from today’s forecast 55 knots (63+ m.p.h.) and 75 knot (86+ m.p.h.) gusts. If we’re very lucky, the winds will moderate to a 45 knot (51.7+ m.p.h.) gale by show time. Still, with temperatures expected to reach a low of 7° F, it’ll be freakin’ cold, if you’ll excuse my lapse into technical terminology . . . .
Third, to see the moon at that time of morning, we’d need to hike up to the ridge. Michelle and I did this to see an eclipse in 2011 (see Moon Mission) but we also made the same hike more precipitately, and more heavily burdened, last Tuesday when we evacuated the homestead under a tsunami warning (see Tsunami Scramble). We’re not excited to do that again so soon, even with the reward of a Super Blue Blood Moon.
NASA offers this chart that explains more about the eclipse (Image: NASA.gov).