In Albuquerque, go outside at 1:47am or thereabouts. I’ll be in bed.

The Sky This Week, 2014 April 8 – 15 — Naval Oceanography Portal

Full Moon occurs on the 15th at 3:42 am Eastern Daylight Time.  April’s Full Moon is variously known as the Grass Moon, Egg Moon, Fish Moon, and Pink Moon.  This last appellation will be particularly appropriate this year as Luna undergoes a total eclipse by the shadow of the Earth. …

The Moon will enter the Earth’s penumbral shadow at 12:54 am EDT, marking the beginning of the event.  Most of us probably won’t notice anything unusual until about 45 minutes later when Luna’s disc will begin to show a subtle darkening along her northwestern limb.  At 1:58 am the transit through Earth’s umbral shadow begins, and over the next hour the Moon plunges ever deeper into it.  At 3:07 am the total phase begins, with mid-eclipse occurring at 3:46 am.  The total phase ends at 4:25 am, and Luna exits the shadow at 5:33.  The final traces of the penumbral shadow clear the Moon’s face at 6:38 am, shortly after sunrise.  As to what the Moon will look like during the total phase, that’s anybody’s guess.  This is one of the things that makes watching these eclipses interesting.  The darkness of the Moon’s disc depends very heavily on the clarity of the Earth’s atmosphere, so a bright, coppery-hued Moon means that the air over the Southern Hemisphere is clear.  If you miss this one, don’t fret; we’ll get another eclipse (at a far more decent evening hour) on September 28, 2015.

[Bonus:] Ruddy Mars is now at the peak of his current apparition. He reaches opposition on the 8th, when Earth passes between the red planet and the Sun. At this time he’ll rise at sunset and set at sunrise, remaining visible in the sky all night long. Earth and Mars are closest together on the 15th, when just over 57 million miles (92 million kilometers) separate us. This is the time to try to see details on his far-flung surface, views of which have tantalized earthbound astronomers for centuries.

The Sky This Week, 2014 April 8 – 15 — Naval Oceanography Portal

Get out!

The Sky This Week, 2014 March 18 – 25 — Naval Oceanography Portal

The Vernal Equinox will occur on the 20th at 12:57 pm EDT despite any appearances to the contrary. At that instant the center of the Sun’s disc crosses the celestial equator above a spot located over the southern reaches of Colombia in South America. If the sun were a pinpoint of light and the Earth was a perfect sphere with no atmosphere all parts of the planet would experience exactly 12 hours of daylight and night; but the Sun subtends a disc of about 30 arcminutes’ diameter, the Earth is kind of lumpy, and we have an atmosphere. All of these factors combine to produce days and nights of “equal night” that fall a few days before the equinox, depending on location. Here in Washington our “equal night” fell on St. Patrick’s Day, so despite the snow storm daylight will exceed night from now until a few days after the autumnal equinox. We know that warmer weather will soon follow!

The Sky This Week, 2014 March 18 – 25 — Naval Oceanography Portal

Seeing Equinoxes and Solstices from Space | Flickr – Photo Sharing!

The Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) on EUMETSAT’s Meteosat-9 captured these four views of the day-night terminator on December 21, 2010, and March 20, June 21, and September 20, 2011. Each image was taken at 6:12 a.m. local time.

Seeing Equinoxes and Solstices from Space | Flickr – Photo Sharing!