• Crescent moon over Tarpaulin Cove. Next week, look for the full Hunter's moon and a lunar eclipse.
  • Mark Lovewell

Lunar Eclipse Looms

There will be a lunar eclipse at dawn on Wednesday morning. This won’t be the most visible eclipse, but for those who are up in the predawn hour, they will see an odd looking full moon, its brilliance partially extinguished as it passes through the Earth’s shadow.

The eclipse goes with the Hunter’s Moon, that full moon that comes with October, a month after the Harvest Moon. The full moon is also a close moon, one of the closest full moons of the year.

Totality starts at close to sunrise, at 6:25 a.m. Mid-eclipse, that moment when the moon is completely covered by the Earth’s shadow is 6:55 a.m., at about the time when the moon sets, or has already set in the west.

The full moon, low in the western sky, first enters the noticeable shadow of the Earth at 5:15 a.m., just when the light of dawn has started. You’ll see one side of the full moon start to darken. The eclipse will be significantly more noticeable 20 minutes later, as more and more of the moon darkens.

With the timing of both dawn and sunrise it is hard to predict just what you will see, as the light of dawn will take over and the drama of a darkening moon may be less obvious. What is more likely, the moon will fade from view before it sets in the west.
  

Sunrise and Sunset
Day Sunrise Sunset
Fri., Oct. 3 6:40 6:20
Sat., Oct. 4 6:41 6:18
Sun., Oct. 5 6:42 6:17
Mon., Oct. 6 6:43 6:15
Tues., Oct. 7 6:44 6:13
Wed., Oct. 8 6:45 6:12
Thurs., Oct. 9 6:46 6:10
Fri., Oct. 10 6:47 6:09
Temperatures and Precipitation
Day Max (Fº) Min (Fº) Inches
Sept. 26 63 59 0.00
Sept. 27 69 50 0.00
Sept. 28 78 55 0.00
Sept. 29 78 63 T
Sept. 30 72 60 T
Oct. 1 64 60 0.50
Oct. 2 63 59 1.50

 

Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 65º F

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