Enjoy the Beginning of the Year with the Help of the Sky

Enjoy the Beginning of the Year with the Help of the Sky
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An uncommon thing might happen this January. Three curious things might appear in the sky: a Blue Moon, a total eclipse of the moon and a Supermoon.

What are these?

A Blue Moon is when two full moons occur in the same month. Lunar eclipses happen when the moon goes into the shadow of the Earth, and supermoons happen when the moon’s perigee (its nearest way to the Earth in a single orbit) concurs with a full moon.

When is this happening?

The first full moon will happen the evening of Jan. 1 or the morning of Jan. 2, thinking of where you are.

The eclipse of the moon will happen the evening of Jan. 31 or the morning of Feb. 1.

The supermoon will happen the evening of Jan. 30.

The difference between solar eclipses and lunar eclipses

In contrast to solar eclipses, which can be seen from particular places on Earth, lunar eclipses are obvious from anyplace as long as it is evening. Lunar eclipses don’t happen each month in light of the fact that the plane of the lunar orbit is somewhat tilted with respect to the plane of the Earth’s orbit. In this case, the Earth, the Sun and the Moon don’t generally arrange themselves in a straight line to align the moon in the shadow of the Earth.

What’s so special about these?

Our expected superstar is the lunar eclipse which will take place on January 31. The moon will be 223,068 miles, 358,994 in km from Earth. The usual distance is somewhere around 238,855 miles or 384,400 km.

In spite of the fact that a supermoon appears somewhat bigger in the sky than a full moon, the distinction is almost incomprehensible for most people to see.

Blue Moons are not as uncommon as it is believed. They happen about once in 2 years.

In 2018 there will be two Blue Moons — one in January and one in March, February being left out without a full moon.


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I am a pop culture and social media expert. Aside from writing about the latest news health, I also enjoy pop culture and Yoga. I have BA in American Cultural Studies and currently enrolled in a Mass-Media MA program. I like to spend my spring breaks volunteering overseas.

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