Mark your calendars for Tuesday night, Minnesota. A rare celestial spectacle is about to take place.

Here’s what’s going on with the full moon and the blood eclipse on Tuesday.

Full moon

Tuesday’s full moon will occur on September 17, 2024, at 9:35 p.m. CDT, according to NASA. The moon will appear full for about three days, from Monday evening through Thursday morning.

Harvest Moon

The closest full moon to the autumn equinox is Harvest Noon. The autumn equinox occurs on Sunday at 1:44 p.m. CDT. Here’s more from NASA about the Harvest Moon:

The first known written use of this name in the English language (according to the Oxford English Dictionary) was in 1706. During the fall harvest season, farmers are sometimes required to work late into the night under the moonlight. On average, the moon rises about 50 minutes later each night. Around the harvest moon, this time is shorter, about 25 minutes at the latitude of Washington, DC, and only 10 to 20 minutes further north in Canada and Europe.

Supermoon

This will be a supermoon. Supermoons are closer to Earth and can appear up to 14 percent larger and up to 30 percent brighter!

Learn more about supermoons from NASA here.

This will be a supermoon. The term “supermoon” was coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979 to describe a new or full moon that occurs when the moon is 90% closest to Earth. Since we can’t see new moons, the public’s attention is focused on full moons, the largest and brightest moons of the year. Although different publications use different thresholds to decide which full moons are considered supermoons, most agree that this will be the second of four consecutive supermoons (making it virtually tied with October’s full moon as the closest moon of the year).

Partial lunar eclipse

Tuesday night you will notice a small ripple in the tip of the moon. This is due to a partial lunar eclipse. Again, NASA is the best source for details. (I converted the times from EDT to CDT.)

This will be a partial lunar eclipse. The Moon will begin to enter the Earth’s penumbra at 7:41 p.m. CDT. The slight darkening of the Moon will be difficult to notice until the top of the Moon begins to enter the full shadow at 9:13 p.m. The peak of the eclipse will be at 9:44 p.m., with only the top 8 percent of the Moon in full shadow. The Moon will exit the full shadow at 10:16 p.m. and the penumbra at 11:47 a.m.

Blood Moon

Finally, the light that penetrates the Earth’s atmosphere casts a reddish veil over the moon. That’s why it is called a blood moon.

The Earth’s atmosphere scattered other light waves, allowing the red waves to pass through.

NPR has some good details about the blood moon here.

The best time to view the event depends on your location, but according to NASA, the lunar eclipse will peak at 9:44 p.m. CT. Weather permitting, all of North and South America will have a chance to see the partial lunar eclipse and the Harvest Supermoon. There will also be a chance to see the eclipse in Europe and Africa.

This lunar eclipse will be a partial eclipse, with only the upper part of the moon immersed in the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow, the so-called umbra, Monsue said.

“Except for the small dark area at the top of the lunar disk, most of the visible lunar disk will be in Earth’s penumbra, the lighter part of the planet’s shadow that does not completely block sunlight,” she said, adding that this will give most of the moon a reddish-brown appearance that we call a “blood moon.”

Partly cloudy skies

Skies over Minnesota look mostly clear to partly cloudy Tuesday evening. Here is the cloud cover output from NOAA’s FV3 model for Tuesday at 10 p.m.

Here are some great Native American moon names from NASA.

The Maine Farmer’s Almanac first published “Native American” names for the full moons in the 1930s, and these names are widely known and used. According to this almanac, the Algonquian tribes in what is now the northeastern United States called the full moon in September the Corn Moon because it was the time when their main staple crops of corn, pumpkins, squash, beans, and wild rice were harvested. Other European names for this full moon include the Fruit Moon because numerous fruits ripen toward the end of summer, and the Barley Moon because of the harvesting and threshing of barley.

Go out and enjoy the show!