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Coming Soon To a Sky Near You: Total Lunar Eclipse, Big & Bright Mars

Posted at 6:36 PM, Apr 10, 2014
and last updated 2014-04-10 18:36:53-04

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (April 10, 2014)  —  A couple of very exciting things are on the way to the nighttime sky.

The first event is Mars’ appearing brighter and larger than it has since 2007.  You can see the bright “Red Planet” in the southeast sky right after sunset.  This image from Sky and Telescope magazine should help:

mars

In addition to Mars, the Moon will be putting on quite a show on the night of April 14 (early morning hours of April 15). A total lunar eclipse will be visible across most of North America, including here in Michigan.  The above picture of a lunar eclipse was provided by National Geographic magazine.

Here is a look at the timetable for the eclipse:

  • Eclipse begins (not yet visible) at 12:53AM
  • Upper-left edge starts to be eclipsed at 1:58AM
  • Total eclipse begins at 3:06AM
  • Eclipse peaks at 3:46AM
  • Total eclipse ends at 4:24AM
  • Eclipse ends at 5:33AM

It’s interesting to note that this total eclipse is the beginning of what is called a tetrad, which is four consecutive total lunar eclipses spaced about six months apart. The next one is on October 8, followed by two next year on April 4 and September 28.

All four of these eclipses will be visible for all or parts of the United States.

To find out if skies will be clear for these great celestial events, join us on FOX 17 News or visit the weather page anytime at http://www.fox17online.com/weather