This Weekend’s Super Blood Wolf Moon … or Something Like That
Alabamians, along with millions of people in many parts of the world, are getting ready for a show Sunday night. There will be a total lunar eclipse. Some call it a ‘super blood wolf moon.’ David Weigel, director of the Christenberry Planetarium at Samford University, says the event is exciting, but he would not use that name.
“It is billed as a ‘super blood wolf moon,'” he says, “which is all sorts of nonsense.”
Weigel has a different idea.
“Maybe the more exciting term would be perigee syzygy,” he says. “That would be the scientific term for this.”
In less scientific language, this eclipse features what is called a super moon. The moon will appear slightly bigger because it will be around its closest point to earth. This weekend’s event is also a total eclipse, so the sun, earth and moon are in perfect alignment. The earth blocks direct sunlight from reaching the moon. Weigel says the light that does hit the moon is bent through the earth’s atmosphere.
“So it’s as if you have all of the sunsets of the earth shining on the moon at the same time and that turns it red,” Weigel says.
That red tint is why some people are calling it a “blood moon.” A “wolf moon” is the name sometimes given to the full moon in January.
Call it a super blood wolf moon or perigee syzygy. Either way, check it out in the night sky this Sunday. The total eclipse will last a little over an hour, starting just after 10:40 PM. In Birmingham, there will be public viewing parties at Samford University and Oak Mountain State Park.
The next total lunar eclipse will happen in May of 2021.
New York Giants hire John Harbaugh as coach after identifying him as their top choice
Harbaugh joins the Giants 11 days after he was fired by the Baltimore Ravens. The Super Bowl champion is now tasked with turning around a beleaguered franchise.
US launches new retaliatory strike in Syria, killing leader tied to deadly Islamic State ambush
A third round of retaliatory strikes by the U.S. in Syria has resulted in the death of an Al-Qaeda-affiliated leader, said U.S. Central Command.
NASA rolls out Artemis II craft ahead of crewed lunar orbit
Mission Artemis plans to send Americans to the moon for the first time since the Nixon administration.
Trump says 8 EU countries to be charged 10% tariff for opposing US control of Greenland
In a post on social media, Trump said a 10% tariff will take effect on Feb. 1, and will climb to 25% on June 1 if a deal is not in place for the United States to purchase Greenland.
‘Not for sale’: massive protest in Copenhagen against Trump’s desire to acquire Greenland
Thousands of people rallied in Copenhagen to push back on President Trump's rhetoric that the U.S. should acquire Greenland.
Uganda’s longtime leader declared winner in disputed vote
Museveni claims victory in Uganda's contested election as opposition leader Bobi Wine goes into hiding amid chaos, violence and accusations of fraud.
