It looks like perfect viewing weather for Sunday night’s much-anticipated total lunar eclipse, or “supermoon.” The historic show should start in the eastern sky at 7:07 p.m.
People will see a shadow, called the penumbra, creeping across the face of the moon. For the next 90 minutes, the moon will get darker bit by bit and gradually take on a reddish hue. At 8:10 p.m., when the moon completely enters the Earth’s shadow — the umbra — it will be red. The total eclipse should end at 9:23 p.m., and the partial eclipse will end at 10:27 p.m.
Jeff Kanipe, a local author specializing in astronomy and astrophysics, told the Daily Camera that the moon’s appearance turns red from light from the sun that is passing through the Earth’s atmosphere, which acts like a prism. Blue and green light are scattered out of the shadow, he said, but the red light is bent more into the shadow, where it then falls on the moon, giving it a red glow.
CU’s Fiske Planetarium will hold a viewing party from about 7 to 10 p.m. Regis University in Denver also will hold a viewing party from 7 to 10 p.m. Quyen Hart, an assistant professor and resident astronomy expert, will answer questions.
