New Bedford Area Weather Should Cooperate For Partial Lunar Eclipse

The next full moon on Tuesday, September 17 will be something to behold.

Space.com says, "This month's Full Harvest Moon will be especially noteworthy."

"In addition to being a slightly larger-than-average 'supermoon,' September's full moon will also experience a partial lunar eclipse when it rises on the evening of September 17," the site says.

The partial lunar eclipse will be visible from most of North America, including the Greater New Bedford area, Rhode Island, and the rest of New England, South America, Europe, all but the easternmost parts of Africa, western portions of Asia, Russia and parts of Antarctica.

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Space.com says, "Supermoon' is a non-astronomical term that describes a full moon that occurs when the moon is at or close to perigee, the closest approach to Earth in its slightly elliptical orbit."

A supermoon will often appear to be larger to the naked eye.

This month's full supermoon is the second of four consecutive supermoons we'll experience this year.

NASA says, "During a partial lunar eclipse, only a portion of the moon enters the Earth's shadow, which may look like it's taking a 'bite' out of the lunar surface."

"How much of a bite we see depends on how the sun, Earth, and moon align," according to NASA.

Only about nine percent of the moon's surface is expected to be darkened by the Earth's shadow.

The partial eclipse should begin at 10:44 p.m. on Tuesday, September 17 and conclude at 12:47 a.m. You don't need special safety glasses to view it because it is a lunar eclipse, not a solar eclipse involving the sun.

The Weather Channel's long-range forecast is for partly cloudy skies for the partial eclipse with temperatures in the mid-to-upper 50s.