Blood Moon lunar eclipse

After August’s spectacular solar eclipse with the moon passing between the Earth and the sun, its time to return the moon’s favor with a total lunar eclipse on Wednesday, Jan. 31.

Again, Wyoming is blessed to be a prime viewing area and in Thermopolis we’ll just have to get up a little earlier than normal to appreciate it.

The eclipse is unusual, this type not actually seen for 35 years, as it falls in line with the Blue Moon phase (a second full moon in a month) as well as the Supermoon phase where the moon is 15 percent larger and 30 percent brighter due to its closer proximity to the Earth.

This eclipse is also known as a Blood Moon since it will not completely go dark, but instead, will take on a red hue. The amount of color will be determined by the amount of dust in the air and other atmospheric conditions.

For us, the lunar eclipse will last almost four hours, 3 hours and 44 minutes to be exact.

It will begin at 3:51 a.m., reach its maximum at 6:29 a.m. and be finished at 7:34 a.m. We will have totality for an hour and six minutes.

Just like the solar eclipse this summer, the lunar eclipse will begin with a small “bite” out of one edge of the moon, move its way slowly across the surface, and finish with another “bite” out of the other side.