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   *** Join it LIVE here ! *** 
   
   *** Join it LIVE here ! *** 
   
   Next 31 Jan. 2018, the Moon will offer an amazing total eclipse, well visible from Australia and western USA. As in the past, the Virtual Telescope Project will partner with some great astro-imagers there to bring to you the stunning beauty of such a unique event. Yes, it will be somewhat unique: the 31 Jan, 2018 Full Moon will be a Supermoon and will be a Blue Moon, too! 
   
   So far, the Super Blue Moon Total Eclipse team is as below: 
   
   astrophotographer: Dean Hooper (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia); 
   
   astrophotographer: John Stevenson (Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia); 
   
   astrophotographer: Chris Stockdale (Latrobe Valley Astronomical Society, “Hazelwood Observatory”, near Morwell, Victoria, Australia) 
   
   astrophotographer: John W. Johnson, Nebraska, USA 
   
   astrophotographer: Andrew Wall, Adelaide, South Australia 
   
   astrophotographer: Ron Delvaux, Arizona, USA 
   
   astrophotographer: James McCue, New Mexico, USA 
   
   astrophotographer: Gerard Lazarus, Australia 
   
   coordinator and live comment: astrophysicist Gianluca Masi (The Virtual Telescope Project, Italy). 
   
   We will also use “Pearl” the amazing telescope available at Tenagra Observatories, in the framework of our partnership. The online, free lunar total eclipse session is scheduled for 31 Jan. 2018, staring at 11:30 UT. 
   
   But this is NOT enough! Later the same day, we will show the Supermoon rising above Rome, something which made us very popular worldwide. We will show the SuperBlueMoon rising above the legendary monuments of Rome on 31 Jan. 2018, starting at 16:00 UT. 
   
   Both the events are 
   
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   , featuring our unique images of the stars above the legendary monuments of Rome! 
   
   comments ||||| The moon turns blood-red in this image of a total lunar eclipse from 2004. A total eclipse of a "blue moon" will occur on Jan. 31, 2018. 
   
   The first eclipse of 2018 will be a lunar one that comes at the very end of the month, on Jan. 31. 
   
   It will be a total eclipse that involves the second full moon of the month, popularly referred to as a Blue Moon. Such a skywatching event hasn't happened for more than 150 years. 
   
   The eclipse will take place during the middle of the night, and the Pacific Ocean will be turned toward the moon at the time. Central and eastern Asia, Indonesia, New Zealand and most of Australia will get a fine view of this moon show in the evening sky. Heading farther west into western Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, the eclipse will already be underway as the moon rises. [Super Blue Blood-Moon 2018: When, Where and How to See It] 
   
   To the east, Alaska, Hawaii and northwestern Canada will see the eclipse from start to finish. Moonset will intervene for the rest of North and Central America, however. 
   
   Below, we provide a timetable for the main stages of the moon's passage through the Earth's shadow for six time zones — one for Hawaii (HST), one for Alaska (AKST) and four across the U.S and Canada: Pacific (PST), Mountain (MST), Central (CST) and Eastern (EST). All times are a.m. 
   
   Timetable for the main stages of the Jan. 31, 2018, blue moon total lunar eclipse, for six time zones. Credit: Joe Rao/Space.com 
   
   Along the U.S. West Coast, the total phase begins at 4:51 a.m. PST. The farther east you go, the closer the start of the partial phases will coincide with moonrise. Along the U.S. Atlantic Seaboard, for instance, the moon will have only just begun to enter the darkest part of Earth's shadow, the umbra, at 6:48 a.m. EST when it will disappear from view below the west-northwest horizon. The duration of the total phase is 77 minutes, with the moon tracking through the southern part of the Earth's shadow. So, during totality, the moon's lower limb will appear much brighter than the dark upper limb. [In Photos: The Snow Moon Lunar Eclipse & Comet 45P Encounter] 
   
   How unusual are Blue Moon eclipses? To answer that question, we consulted the reference book Canon of Lunar Eclipses, 1500 B.C. - A.D. 3000, by Bao-Lin Liu and Alan D. Fiala (Willmann-Bell Inc., 1992). 
   
   This NASA chart by eclipse expert Fred Espenak details the visibility range and times for the Jan. 31, 218 total lunar eclipse, which also occurs during a blue moon and near a supermoon. Credit: NASA 
   
   After this year, the next time that a Blue Moon passes through Earth's umbra will be on Dec. 31, 2028, and, after that, on Jan. 31, 2037. Both of these eclipses will be total. Before 2017, there was an 8 percent partial eclipse on Dec. 31, 2009, but, for a total eclipse of a Blue Moon, we have to go all the way back to March 31, 1866. 
   
   So, the upcoming eclipse on Jan. 31 will be the first total eclipse of a Blue Moon in nearly 152 years! 
   
   We will have more to say about January's eclipse here at Space.com in the coming weeks. 
   
   Editor's note: If you capture an amazing photo of the Jan. 31 total lunar eclipse and would like to share it with Space.com for a story or gallery, send images and comments to: spacephotos@space.com. 
   
   Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmer's Almanac and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for Verizon Fios1 News, based in Rye Brook, NY. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com. ||||| Visible supermoons—full moons that appear when the moon is at its closest orbital point to Earth—aren’t very rare. Having three in a row certainly is. 
   
   And that’s exactly what astronomy fans are being treated to this winter. 
   
   The first supermoon appeared when the moon swung by Earth 26,500 km (approximately 16,500 miles) closer than usual on Dec. 3. It will reappear as a visible supermoon on New Year’s Day 2018 and again on Jan. 31. 
   
   Visible supermoons appear 14% bigger and 30% brighter than full moons that occur at the farthest point in the moon’s orbit. If you only have time to catch one episode of the trilogy, NASA recommends catching the last one, which will be extra special. 
   
   Not only is the second full moon of a month considered a blue moon, the Jan. 31 supermoon will also feature a total lunar eclipse, with totality visible from eastern Asia across the Pacific to western North America. During the eclipse, the moon will slowly lose its brightness and take on a reddish hue because of the way the atmosphere bends the light, says NASA. As a result, totally eclipsed moons are sometimes also called “blood moons.” 
   
   When can I see the supermoons and the lunar eclipse? 
   
   The best time to enjoy either supermoon is right after moonrise and before sunrise, when the moon is sitting on the horizon. It will appear its biggest and brightest because of a “moon illusion” effect that’s created when you are able to compare the lunar body to other objects for scale, like buildings and foliage. Check your local moonrise time here. 
   
   Don’t worry if you miss the moonrise—you can continue to enjoy a larger-than-average moon for a few more days. It just won’t be a full moon. 
   
   On the night of Jan. 31, the lunar eclipse will begin at 11:48am UTC and reach its maximum at 1:30pm UTC. That means viewers who live in eastern North America will need to wake up early to catch the partial eclipse. Here’s a map of where you can see the eclipse. 
   
   Ruaraidh Gillies/Wikimedia Commons From supermoon to blood moon. 
   
   Can I see the supermoon and lunar eclipse without going outside? 
   
   If it’s too cloudy, or too cold to go outside, there are options to beam either celestial event straight to your living room. The Virtual Telescope project provides a livestream of the Jan. 1 supermoon rise over Rome’s skyline, beginning at 4:00pm UTC, and the Jan. 31 eclipse from Australia, beginning at 11:30am UTC. 
   
   What’s the best way to photograph the supermoon or lunar eclipse? 
   
   To take a picture of the supermoon or the lunar eclipse with a smartphone, tap on the moon on the screen and hold your finger in place to lock the camera’s focus. Then adjust the exposure slider that appears next to your finger to get the right balance of light for your shot. 
   
   If you’re using a DSLR, NASA’s senior photographer Bill Ingalls recommends that you use the daylight white balance to adjust for the sunlight being reflected off the moon. He says that it’s important to keep in mind that the moon is a moving object. “It’s a balancing act between trying to get the right exposure and realizing that the shutter speed typically needs to be a lot faster.” 
   
   Bill Ingalls/NASA A supermoon behind the Colorado State Capitol Building on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015. 
   
   To get an original shot, Ingalls suggests taking a picture that puts the moon in context of a local landmark, something that gives your photo a sense of place. “Don’t make the mistake of photographing the moon by itself with no reference to anything,” say Ingalls. “Everyone will get that shot.” 
   
   Do I need special glasses to watch the supermoon or the lunar eclipse? 
   
   Fortunately, unlike the solar eclipse, the supermoon and the lunar eclipse are safe to view with the naked eye! There’s nothing to worry about if you find yourself enthralled and staring up into the sky for a very long time.
target: – Look up at the sky on Jan. 31 and you may witness a sight unseen for 150 years. For the first time since 1866, a total lunar eclipse will occur with the blue moon, or second full moon of the month, which—like the one visible on New Year's Day—will also be a supermoon. Got all that? When the moon is at or near the closest point to Earth in its orbit (aka, a supermoon), it appears 14% bigger and 30% brighter than full moons that occur at the farthest point in the moon's orbit, though the moon will lose brightness as it enters Earth's shadow, according to NASA. Because of the way Earth's atmosphere bends light, the eclipsed moon will take on a reddish hue, something often referred to as a blood moon, making this rare celestial event "a super blue blood moon eclipse," according to the Miami Herald. The next blue moon eclipse won't occur until 2028. The eclipse will last for 3.5 hours, with the total eclipse stretching for 77 minutes, reports Sky & Telescope. Those along the Pacific Rim from Alaska and northwestern Canada to central and eastern Asia, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Australia will get the best view of totality during the middle of the night. However, partial phases of the eclipse should be visible under a clear sky in central North America, western Asia, India, the Middle East and eastern Europe, per Space.com. North American viewers should look up as the moon sets on the morning of Jan. 31, while those on the opposite side of the world should see a partial eclipse as the moon rises. Not in an ideal viewing area? The Virtual Telescope plans to livestream the total eclipse from Australia, which you can watch here, per Quartz. (Bogus glasses damaged a solar eclipse viewer's eyes.)