January 20, 2019 Total Lunar Eclipse Info

Source: https://www.skyandtelescope.com/

This Sunday evening is not just the first full moon of the new year but it is also going to be a total lunar eclipse. That simply means that the Moon will pass through the shadow of the Earth. The result will be a deep orange-red colored Moon. Totality will last for just over an hour. So if your location has cloudy/partly cloudy skies, don't give up on seeing it! Perhaps a gap may come in the clouds during that hour and give you an opportunity to see it and photograph it. That will be the case here at the La Pine Observatory in La Pine, Oregon, where the predicted cloud cover (as of Friday, January 18, 2019) will be from 80 to 100%.

The first illustration above will give you an idea as to the relationship of the Moon as it passes through Earth's shadow (cast by the Sun).

NOTE: The times show are "Universal Time" NOT local time.

This chart will show you when you can expect the various aspects of this lunar eclipse in your time zone (click on the chart for, hopefully, a larger view of it):

Source: https://www.skyandtelescope.com/

So for my location (Pacific Standard Time - PST) the beginning of eclipse (not totality) will begin about 7:10pm PST. As the Moon progresses through Earth's shadow it will seem like one side of the Moon is just getting darker, no color change initially but gradually becoming more obvious the closer to 8:41pm PST. When the Moon begins enters the full shadow of the Earth, about 8:41pm PST, the reddish-orange color will be very obvious! To the unaided eye (no binoculars or telescope) the Moon will appear to be caught in smoke from a forest fire, but the color comes from the light of the Sun bending around the Earth's atmosphere and it will take on the same color as a sunset just before the Sun drops below the horizon.

Source: https://www.skyandtelescope.com/

Totality will last for just over an hour. You will be able to easily see (weather-permitting) the stars in the night sky. If you have binoculars or a telescope you will see a patch of fuzzy stars to the left of the Moon and slightly down. That is a cluster of stars known as the "Beehive".

If you have a telescope that is capable of following the rotation of the Earth and can mount a camera on it and if you can set it up to take in the area shown in the diagram above, you should easily be able to image the Moon and the Beehive!

Here's hoping we all get some clear skies or a few holes in the cloud cover!