By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com
The moon put on quite a display late Sunday night into Monday for the inhabitants of the entire Western Hemisphere. The only lunar eclipse of 2019, it was spectacular: a Super Blood Wolf Moon.
People used to say the Moon looked like cheese, but on closer inspection, it looks more like a honeydew melon. On this Super Moon, when the moon is at its closest to Earth, in the perigee of its orbit, and is visibly 14% larger and 30% brighter than when it is at its furthest (apogee), you can see patterns that look like map markings or roads, and a circle and dot on the bottom that you can see moves to the left from the beginning to the end of the eclipse.
The “blood” modifier comes from the way it becomes blood-red as the earth comes between the sun and the moon, blocking the light.
As for “Wolf,” that is the name that Native Americans are supposed to have given January’s full moon.
You didn’t even have to travel far –just step out your door and look up (fortunate because it was frigid cold with a blustering wind, which I suspect helped make the sky particularly clear). I did this about every 20 minutes during the course of the eclipse.
Here is the progression as enjoyed over Long Island, New York:
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