~ St. Maarten’s Backyard Astronomy for January 19 & 20 ~
Sun rises at 6:46am
Sun sets at 5:58pm
Lunar phase: Full Moon
Moon sets at 5:30am, Saturday
Moon sets at 4:34pm, Saturday
This weekend, take a nap on Sunday afternoon and wake up after midnight to see the full super-moon being totally eclipsed by the Earth’s dark shadow for 62 minutes, starting at 12:41am St. Maarten time.
The greatest moment, or peak, of the eclipse will be at 1:12am, at which point the moon will be dark or covered with an unexpected hue. Many are calling it a Blood Moon eclipse, anticipating a reddish coloration. The lunar disk often exhibits a coppery colour during a total lunar eclipse, because the Earth’s atmosphere refracts (or bends) sunlight and the longer wavelengths of light (red and orange) pass onward to fall on the moon’s face. You can imagine the reddish light from all of the world’s sunrises and sunsets is the light that is illuminating the totally eclipsed moon. Interestingly, if you were standing on the moon looking back on Earth, you’d see a total eclipse of the sun.
The moon will begin to re-emerge from the shadow of our planet at about 1:14am. The total lunar eclipse will end at 1:43am, which of course is actually Monday, January 21, as it is after midnight.
This year will be an eclipse-heavy year, with three solar and two lunar eclipses. This weekend’s will be the first full moon of 2019, and the first lunar eclipse. The eclipse will happen on the night of the year’s first of three straight full super moons, meaning the moon will be nearly at its closest to Earth for this January, as the eclipse takes place. This will be the last total lunar eclipse to grace Earth’s skies until May 26, 2021.
Saturday night, the moon will look full but is actually still a waxing gibbous moon. It is still quite close to earth, relative to its normal position, so it will appear slightly larger than usual. Near to that lovely orb, you will likely see the bright stars Castor and Pollux in the constellation Gemini the Twins.
These three stars, Procyon, Castor and Pollux, can point the way to the North Star. Just draw an imaginary line from Procyon and continue it in between the two Gemini stars, and then extend that line straight northward to locate Polaris, the North Star. The degrees of elevation of Polaris will always tell you your latitude on the earth, anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere.
Thank you for keeping up with the Night Sky articles. If you are out later on in the week, each star rises about four minutes earlier each day than written here, and the moon rises 50 minutes later. Night Sky is researched and compiled by Lisa Davis-Burnett. Earthsky.org is a key resource for information and images. Questions or comments? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
