Cloudy forecast for total lunar eclipse
This file picture taken in Manassas, Virginia shows the moon during the peak of a total eclipse on Dec. 21, 2010. Credit: Getty Images / Karen Bleier
A total eclipse of the moon will occur in the wee hours of Tuesday morning when the moon, Earth and sun all line up, and the moon passes through the Earth's shadow.
At a certain point, the moon might appear to become orange or burgundy or blood red in color, as it reflects those colors from the sunlight passing through the Earth's atmosphere.
Too bad that New York metro area sky-buffs will have a less than stellar chance to see the total lunar eclipse, as right around the 2 to 3 a.m. time frame, when the show really gets started, the sky in the metropolitan area is expected to be mostly cloudy to completely overcast, said Joey Picca, National Weather Service meteorologist based in Upton.
Add to that the potential for drizzle to light rain, said Lauren Nash, his colleague.
"It would have been nice to watch," said Linda Prince, of Bellmore, activities director of the Amateur Observers' Society of New York. If the weather forecast were more cooperative, the eclipse could be "a really beautiful one," said the retired high school science teacher.
Still, this is the first in a series of four chances, separated by about six months, to see a total lunar eclipse this year and next, a phenomenon known as a tetrad when such events occur consecutively, according to MrEclipse.com, a site created by Fred Espenak, a retired NASA astrophysicist.
So with hopes of more favorable weather conditions, sky watchers can mark their calendars for Oct. 8 and for April 4 and Sept. 27 and 28 of 2015, Prince said.
This is the second of eight such tetrads to happen this century, with the next grouping in 2032 to 2033, according to MrEclipse.com.
Depending on conditions in a total eclipse, the moon can appear to be red or orange, according to the site, because the sun's blue light is filtered out by Earth's atmosphere. Were a person to be standing on the moon, Prince said, the Earth, as it passed in front of the sun, would appear to be black, but encircled by a red ring.
Given the disappointing forecast, Picca's best advice is to head to the Internet to check out NASA's live-streaming of the eclipse.
But Prince said she'll be setting her alarm clock for around 3 a.m. anyway.
Because, "nothing ventured, nothing gained," she said. As she's experienced in the past, there's always the chance the clouds might break.
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