Rare 'Super Blue Blood Moon' to take place on Jan. 31

Photo via @NASAMoon Twitter

The Earth will be treated to a hat trick of amazing lunar sights on Jan. 31, when a blue moon, total lunar eclipse, and supermoon will all take place on the same day.

The rare event last took place over 150 years ago and the only question now is: where’s the best place to see the historic lunar show?

Get ready for a lunar trifecta on Jan. 31

1⃣ The Moon will be full, near its closest point to Earth
2⃣ A lunar eclipse will be visible in parts of North America, Asia, & Oceania
3⃣ It will be the 2nd full Moon this month
A super blue blood Moon! https://t.co/A1aH2Ze5qa pic.twitter.com/BD9jLXi9DN
— NASA Moon (@NASAMoon) January 18, 2018

While the entire U.S. will get a partial view of the moon that day, NASA researchers say sky watchers in Alaska, California, and Hawaii will get the best look at the Super Blue Blood Moon.

“Weather permitting, the West Coast, Alaska and Hawaii will have a spectacular view of totality from start to finish,” Gordon Johnston, program executive and lunar blogger at NASA Headquarters said in a statement. “Set your alarm early and go out and take a look.”

Johnston adds that the country’s Eastern time zone will have the most trouble seeing the eclipse on Jan. 31, which begins at 5:51 a.m. ET.

Stages of the Jan. 31, 2018 “super blue blood moon” (weather permitting) are depicted in Pacific Time with “moonset” times for major cities across the U.S., which affect how much of the event viewers will see. While viewers along the East Coast will see only the initial stages of the eclipse before moonset, those in the West and Hawaii will see most or all of the lunar eclipse phases before dawn.
Credits: NASA

“Your best opportunity if you live in the East is to head outside about 6:45 a.m. and get to a high place to watch the start of the eclipse—make sure you have a clear line of sight to the horizon in the west-northwest, opposite from where the Sun will rise,” Johnston added.

For the Central and Mountain time zones, NASA says viewers will start to see the rare moon cycle come into view just before 5 a.m. local time and reach the peak of the blood moon eclipse between 6:15 and 6:30 a.m.

For Americans who decide to sleep in or don’t get a great look at the eclipse, NASA says the Jan. 21, 2019 lunar eclipse will likely be visible across the entire country and it will also be a supermoon (when the Moon reaches its closest point to the Earth).

The 2019 eclipse, unfortunately, will not be a “blue moon” which only come around every 2.7 years.

For more information, click here.

Global map showing areas of the world that will experience (weather permitting) the Jan. 31, 2018 “super blue blood moon.” The eclipse will be visible before sunrise on Jan. 31 for those in North America, Alaska and Hawaii. For those in the Middle East, Asia, eastern Russia, Australia and New Zealand, the “super blue blood moon” can be seen during moonrise the morning of the 31st.
Credits: NASA

*This report was originally published on CBS Miami

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