All eyes will be looking in the sky Wednesday morning as earthbound observers experience a total eclipse of the moon. This will be the Hunter’s Moon – and also a Blood Moon. “A hunter’s moon just refers to the full moon following the harvest moon. A blood moon is when the moon goes into a total lunar eclipise, because it looks red,” explains Madison College astronomy instructor Dixie Burns.
It’s expected to be about 5 percent larger than April’s Blood Moon. “The first partial eclipse starts at 4:15 a.m., and at that point what you’re going to see is as the moon travels into the earth’s shadow, you’ll see the curve of the earth’s shadow cover the moon. By the time you get to 5:25 a.m. you’re going to be at the total eclipse, that’s when the moon is completely inside the earth’s shadow. That’s when the moon will look red.”
There will be two additional total lunar eclipses next year, on April 4th and September 28th. Burns says both of those will be visible from Wisconsin as well.