This Sunday, September 27th, 2015 there will be a total eclipse of the Moon known as a ‘Supermoon’ Lunar Eclipse. We have looked at both solar and lunar eclipses many times in the past. One of the best resources for exploring eclipses is the HeyWhatsThat eclipse page, which uses Google Earth plugin. Chrome stopped supporting the Google Earth plugin from the first of September and the latest versions of Internet Explorer don’t seem to support it either. However, it still works in Firefox, although you have to give it permission and then refresh the page. If you also allow it to use your location then it can give you the local time at which the eclipse will take place.
Another site for eclipses is Xavier Jubier’s, which includes an ‘eclipse visibility’ map.
The Slooh Community Observatory will be broadcasting it live, but it requires membership.
HeyWhatsThat showing the Google Earth plugin still working in Firefox. We believe Safari also still supports it.
About Timothy Whitehead
Timothy has been using Google Earth since 2004 when it was still called Keyhole before it was renamed Google Earth in 2005 and has been a huge fan ever since. He is a programmer working for Red Wing Aerobatx and lives in Cape Town, South Africa.
Lunar eclipses happen on the moon, so it’s happening at the same time on earth no matter where you are. No need for plugins or Firefox. It starts at 2211 EDT, just convert to your time zone.
Do not forget about the ISS transit in front of the Moon during the lunar eclipse. More there
http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/lunar_eclipses/TLE_20150928_pg01.html
and an interactive map there
http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/lunar_eclipses/TLE_20150928_GoogleMap_ISS.html
Southern Arizona and New Mexico are likely the two best states for this observation. Otherwise southwest of Paris, France, is another good option considering the weather forecast.
I was watching the eclipse thru 20×80 binoculars; at 0115 UTC (25 Sep) I saw a large satellite transit the lower 1/3 of the moon from right to left.
Any idea what it was? I was in eastern Massachusetts; about 20 miles north of Boston.
Possibly the ISS did it look like the one in this article:
http://petapixel.com/2015/09/28/the-first-photo-of-the-iss-transiting-a-lunar-eclipse/