COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A total lunar eclipse is on the horizon for early Friday morning in Central Ohio. The March full moon is called the “worm moon,” and when we have a total lunar eclipse, the moon is called a blood moon.
When is the best time to witness the eclipse?
You will need to either stay up late or wake up early on Friday morning. While technically the moon will start to get shadowed out by the Earth just before midnight Thursday night, the bulk of the event will occur in the early morning hours on Friday.
As the graphic lists, the moon starts in the shadow at 11:57 p.m. Thursday but will not really be worth getting up for at that point as it will be difficult to notice a big change. The partial eclipse will get into gear about an hour later just after 1am. This is the stage where it will be more worth waking up for.
By 2:26 a.m., we will see the total lunar eclipse starting, and the moon should have a nice red tint to it, with the maximum of the the eclipse being around 2:58 a.m., when the moon will appear the reddest across it. We will then start to see the opposite happing as the moon will start to work out of the Earth’s shadow. The total lunar eclipse will end at 3:31 a.m., and the partial will be done at 4:47 a.m.
We are expecting partly cloudy skies, as a departing system from Thursday evening/early night exits our area. So it will be good that we will have about a 65-minute window for the total lunar eclipse to be able to allow clouds to pass.
What is a total lunar eclipse/what causes it?
Because the Earth will get in the way of the sunlight from the moon, it causes the moon to appear darker at the moment of the eclipse. Now, there will be light that is filtered through the Earth’s atmosphere from the sun. Some of the colors of light will be filtered out, but the wavelengths of light that do make it through, reds/oranges, will bend around and still be allowed to illuminate the moon.
How long do I have to wait for the next total lunar eclipse?
It depends. Are you willing to travel to see it? If so, you can travel to most locations in Asia, and parts of Europe to see the next total lunar eclipse in September of this year. A year from now, the west coast of the U.S. will have a visible total lunar eclipse. In late June of 2029, the total lunar eclipse will be visible on the east coast of the US, but will not be total in Ohio.
If you are staying home in Ohio, according to NASA, the next total lunar eclipse here in Ohio will occur in January 2047 . As we all know, January is one of our cloudiest, and coldest months, so if you wanted to see a total lunar eclipse at home, I might put a bit more effort into Friday morning’s event, vs waiting for 22 years in January.
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