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‘Blood moon’ visible in Hawaii skies Tuesday night

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BRUCE ASATO / BASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM
The moon shows the red color effect of a lunar eclipse as it journeys into the shadow of the earth from the sun's light.

The moon, sun and Earth will align Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, creating the second blood moon of the year as the sun’s rays cast a red glow over a total lunar eclipse.

The celestial event will be visible in Hawaii beginning at 11:14 p.m. Tuesday.

During the partial phase, the moon begins to cross into the inner shadow of the Earth, called the "umbra." For the next hour or so, the earth’s shadow will create a deeper and deeper "bite" out of the moon.

By 12:25 a.m. Wednesday, the total phase of the eclipse begins. At this point the entire moon will be in the Earth’s dark inner shadow. During the total phase Earth blocks nearly all of the sunlight from hitting the moon.

However, while the Earth’s atmosphere does block the shorter wavelengths of blue light from getting past the Earth and hitting the moon, the longer wavelengths of red light make it through our Earth’s atmosphere and continue to strike the moon. This is the why the moon often turns red during a total lunar eclipse. The total phase will last 59 minutes, ending at 1:24 a.m.  

There will be another partial phase after this total phase ends, and it will last from 1:24 to 2:34 a.m.  as more of the moon returns to "normal." By 2:34 a.m. the visible eclipse will be over. 

A blood moon occurs only during a full moon, when the moon passes in the Earth’s shadow, said astronomer Francis Wilkin, observatory manager at Union College in Albany, N.Y.

The last blood moon was in April.

The Bishop Museum is hosting a late-night lunar eclipse event at the museum’s main campus Tuesday night. The event is called the "Return of the Blood Moon" since it’s the second total lunar eclipse party this year. 

National Weather Service forecasters say clouds could clear in leeward areas by the time the ecllipe starts, but windward areas may have some lingering clouds.

Information from the New York Times News Service and Mike Shanahan’s Sept. 28 Skywatch column.

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