Full Moon Tonight: Coyote Women Will Howl

Next month, the full moon will itself resemble a giant jack-o'-lantern. On the evening of November 8 - 9, it will slip through the Earth's shadow and undergo a brief total eclipse.

Skywatchers from Los Angeles to Islamabad and from Svalbard to Tierra del Fuego will have an opportunity to witness the event. Totality will be visible in its entirety throughout North America (except western Alaska), South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and central Asia.

From start to finish, the eclipse will run 6 hours and 7 minutes. But this span includes the moon's passage through the penumbra, the Earth's faint and unimpressive outer shadow. For much of North America, the moon will have already entered the penumbra by the time it rises.

Most observers won't find anything unusual about the full moon until 5:50 p.m. EST, by which time almost everyone should notice a hint of shadow creeping onto the moon's left edge. That dusky shading reflects the growing darkness of the innermost penumbra, which is illuminated by only a small sliver of sun.

More obvious changes begin when the moon enters the darker inner shadow, or umbra, at 6:32 p.m. EST. (See "Lunar Eclipse Fast Facts" for UT/GMT times.) From within the umbra, the Earth obscures the entire disk of the sun. Over the next 95 minutes, an arc of darkness will expand across the lunar disk until, at 8:06 p.m. EST, the moon is completely immersed in the umbra.

That's when totality will begin.

The moon will look strangely orange and dim as it crosses the umbra over the next twenty-five minutes. Although the Earth blocks direct sunlight from reaching the moon, the atmosphere filters and refracts some of that light into a ring of sunset colors around Earth's limb. This tawny glow fills the umbra and creates the "pumpkin moon." more

Are you serious, CJ? (I've never heard of it)