Super Blood Wolf Moon – Watch Party CANCELLED

EVENT CANCELLED: The TASM Planetarium was hoping to host a watch party of the Lunar eclipse taking place overnight, unfortunately we have to cancelled the planned event.  We still hope you make plans to watch the eclipse from your own homes, this is a very unique event!  Here’s more from our Planetarium Manager Bryan:

On the night of January 20, everyone in North and South America will be greeted to a rare sight: a total lunar eclipse.  Amazingly, this event coincides with another lunar event, which we call a “supermoon”, which occurs when the Moon reaches perigee, or the closest point in its orbit to the Earth.

A Lunar eclipse comes in three stages: penumbral, partial, and total.  The Earth’s shadow is split into two parts: the penumbra, or fainter outer shadow, and the umbra, or dark inner shadow.  A penumbral eclipse occurs while the Moon is passing through the fainter penumbra.  A partial eclipse is where the Moon begins to pass into the umbra, and a total eclipse occurs when the Moon is fully immersed in the umbra.  We will see all three on the night of January 20, 2019, stretching into the early hours of January 21.

Here in Tulsa, the penumbral stage of the eclipse will begin at 8:36 p.m.  The partial eclipse, where the darkest part of Earth’s shadow will begin to creep across the lunar surface, begins at around 9:33 p.m. and totality will begin at 10:41 PM and peak at 11:12 p.m.  Totality ends at 11:43 p.m. and the partial phase ends at 12:50 a.m.  The penumbral phase finally concludes at 1:48 a.m., marking the end of the event.

FUN FACT: the Moon has a proper name: Luna.