For the first time in over three decades, a large part of the world will be witnessing the deadly combination of a super moon and a lunar eclipse. The event will be starting late Sunday evening and take place till early Monday morning. This rare lunar eclipse will be visible to countries located on upper latitudes.
According to information provided by American space agency National Aeronautics & Space Administration or NASA, during Sunday’s lunar eclipse, the larger than life face of the Moon will remain masked entirely for a period of 1 hour and 12 minutes.
Before getting engulfed by the eclipse, the supermoon, which usually appears once a year, will be visible as an object 14% bigger and 30% brighter than the regular moon we see. According to Noah Petro of NASA, there’s no bodily difference between the moon and the supermoon. The supermoon is actually the regular moon we see; it just appears a bit larger in the sky. There’s nothing dramatic about the event, but the moon does appear larger and brighter.
Here, it must be mentioned that Noah Petro is a deputy project scientist working at NASA and is currently operating from his base in the United States.
Our planet witnessed a lunar eclipse and supermoon combination last way back in the year 1982. Experts are saying that the combination will not be happening again before 2033. As a result of being such a rare event, the upcoming lunar eclipse has left space enthusiasts immensely excited. However, they also have things to be concerned about.
Space experts representing NASA are worried that lack of sunrays might mean that one of its major spaceships might run out of power.
The LRO or the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is a NASA spacecraft that performs the job of monitoring the moon. According to NASA, usually two things happen during an eclipse, the temperature drops drastically and the astronauts don’t have access to sunrays for charging the batteries powering the craft.
At this moment, NASA is insisting that everything is under control. Petro said that there shouldn’t be any problem as the eclipse will stop the spacecraft from getting direct access to sunlight for only around three hours. Visit this link to watch the live eclipse online.
