NEWS
Near-total lunar eclipse to shine over New Mexico
New Mexicans can see a coppery-red moon at peak eclipse around 10:13 p.m. Thursday, weather permitting
New Mexico鈥檚 sky is getting even more enchanting with a lunar eclipse.
A partial lunar eclipse will be visible from New Mexico on Thursday night into early Friday.
Steve Snider, president of the Rio Rancho Astronomical Society and the vice president of the Albuquerque Astronomical Society, says the best place to watch is at home.
鈥淚 would just sit on the front porch with a cool drink and watch the moon,鈥� Snider said. 鈥淕et out there and enjoy it. It's going to be very, very nice. If we don't have clouds in the way.鈥�
The best time to view the eclipse will be at 10:13 p.m. Thursday.
A lunar eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when the Earth moves directly in between the sun and moon.
Earth鈥檚 shadow then falls upon the surface of the moon. Each lunar eclipse is visible from only half of Earth.
During this lunar eclipse, 96% of the face of the full moon will fall into Earth鈥檚 shadow, casting a coppery-red tint at peak.
The eclipse is part of the Saros cycle, Snider said.
A Saros cycle is what dictates the recurrence of lunar eclipses. When two eclipses are separated by a period of one Saros (18 years 11 days 8 hours), they share a very similar geometry. Saros is useful for organizing eclipses into families or series.
According to NASA, the previous eclipse in this particular Saros series occurred on Aug. 16, 2008, and the next takes place on Sept. 7, 2044.
Despite being relatively common in the celestial world, Snider doesn鈥檛 think that鈥檚 a reason to miss out on this eclipse.
鈥淭he beauty of watching celestial events is that it tends to put things in perspective. Most of the world鈥檚 problems don鈥檛 really amount to all that much compared to the grandeur and the clockwork of the universe,鈥� said Snider. 鈥淪o it鈥檚 kind of a gentle reminder that there are forces at work in the universe far greater than we can imagine.鈥�
Isabella Campbell is an intern with the New Mexico Local 近距离内射合集 Fellowships and Internships Program, which places emerging journalists in newsrooms across New Mexico. She can be reached at icampbell@abqjournal.com.
