Good tidings for those living in the Western Hemisphere : we ’re go to have a great horizon of the total lunar occultation in the other hour of April 15 !

Fred Espenak ( NASA / GSFC ) hasbroken down the predicted timeframeof the eclipse :

UT is 4 hour in advance of the Eastern prison term zone , 7 hours in front of Pacific . The total occultation lasts 78 minutes , so that ’s plenty of sentence to head out of doors and take a peek .

full lunar occultation are great because they can be catch directly with the defenseless eye , unlike solar occultation . Though field glasses or telescope are n’t require , go out front and break them out so you could get the full experience of the occultation .

The lunar occultation occur when the Earth is posit directly between the sun and the full moon . The moonlight go on through Earth ’s “ umber , ” making it come out a dark reddish - orange coloring . Because the Earth is completely obstructing the lunar month from receiving luminosity from the sun , the light obtain there indirectly as it has been filtered and refract through the atmosphere .

Now , even though there is a full moon each calendar month , there is n’t an occultation each month because the Earth , moonshine , and sun are n’t precisely in product line all the time . The moon ’s celestial orbit around the Earth is be given 5 ° more than Earth ’s orbit around the Dominicus . This tilt keeps the moon out of the direct itinerary of Earth most of the fourth dimension . Lunar occultation are n’t rare , as they take place about twice a class , but not all of them are full eclipse , and some are so shadowy that the shadow is barely noticeable .

However , the eclipse on the 15this fairly special , as it is the first in a quatern of full lunar eclipse , space about six months apart . All four should be visible to nearly everyone living in the United States .

For those living in sphere where the occultation wo n’t be seeable ( or for those who are n’t able-bodied to head outdoors and see it ) , the good tribe at the Slooh Space Camera are couch on a special webcast of the event . Bob Berman and Paul Cox will be hosting the result and will be provide commentary leave up to the occultation .

you could view the webcast here :