Harvest moon preview: Supermoon, partial lunar eclipse will be on display Tuesday

The moon rises over the Summit House in Holyoke Sunday evening from the  Meadows section of Northampton. The image is  a preview of the partial eclipse of the Super Harvest Moon partial eclipse tomorrow.

The moon rises over the Summit House in Holyoke Sunday evening from the Meadows section of Northampton. The image is a preview of the partial eclipse of the Super Harvest Moon partial eclipse tomorrow. FOR THE GAZETTE/CHRISTOPHER EVANS

By Ian Livingston

The Washington Post

Published: 09-16-2024 5:02 PM

September’s full moon — rising elegantly and looming large in Tuesday evening’s eastern sky — will be one to pause and admire. Not only is it a supermoon, but a partial lunar eclipse will occur as the moon becomes full at 10:35 p.m. Eastern.

Often called the harvest moon, it comes as the nights grow long and temperatures cool in the Northern Hemisphere. Given that the moon rises near sunset, it will be reaching peak fullness at a time when it already appears larger low on the horizon due to illusions and the way our brains process the view.

It’s called a supermoon — or in this case a super harvest moon — because it will be full at a time when it is unusually close to Earth on its elliptical orbit.

The entire partial lunar eclipse can be viewed — as long as clouds cooperate — in most of North America (except Alaska), South America, Greenland, Europe, Africa and much of the Middle East.

The partial lunar eclipse begins at 8:41 p.m. Eastern and reaches its peak at 10:44 p.m., when more than 8% of the moon will be in full shadow, according to NASA.

Dimming will be most easily seen on the top edge of the moon during the hour around the peak of the eclipse, as the moon enters the full shadow of the earth. The peak of the eclipse comes about 10 minutes after the moon officially becomes full.

The partial shadow will exit the moon at 12:47 a.m. Eastern time.

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