Sept. 22, 2015
The first “super-moon” total lunar eclipse since 1982 is coming this Sunday night, for people in the eastern half of the USA and … all of Yucatan.

This “blood moon” total lunar eclipse will start to have a super-moon in partial eclipse (penumbra) at 7:11 PM Central Daylight Time on Sunday 9/27/2015 for Yucatan Peninsula viewers.

With moon-rise at 6:30 pm, and sunset at 6:40,  we should have a fine FULL eclipse starting at 9:11 pm CDT of umbra (total eclipse) for 1 hr 10 minutes of viewing from 9:11 – 10:23 on Sunday evening (CDT – Yucatan) … peaking at 9:47. After 10:23, the moon then shifts back to penumbra until 11:27 pm CDT.

Yucatan Supermoon lunar eclipse foto by Bill Drennon

Let’s hope for clear skies next Sunday evening, since the next super-moon total lunar eclipse will not happen until 2033** – as lunar eclipses rarely happen when the moon is at the triple-event of simultaneously:
~ Moving through its closest point to the earth (perigee)
+  being “full” (syzygy – with sun/earth/moon in a line)
+   having the moon fall totally inside the shadow cast by the earth (umbra => total lunar eclipse).

This unique combination of celestial positions happens roughly just 5 times a century.

**The three 2033 Total Lunar Eclipses (including the super-moon total eclipse) … will not be visible from the USA or Yucatan.

So set aside this coming Sunday evening … just after sunset … for what will be the final chance for many of us to see this unique combination of heavenly bodies in our lifetime.

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Feel free to copy with proper attribution: YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.
© Steven M. Fry

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