Rare harvest moon to light up the sky Sunday night

Image taken from Wikimedia Commons
Image taken from Wikimedia Commons

By Sam Wroblewski 630wpro.com

Those looking up at the stars Sunday night will be treated to a rare lunar spectacle; a combination harvest moon and supermoon hanging in the sky.

A harvest moon is caused by the earth passing between the sun and the moon. The light of the sun is filtered through the edges of earth’s atmosphere giving the moon a rusty red appearance.

This event will also coincide with a supermoon, which is caused by the moon’s orbit taking 5 percent closer to earth, giving the illusion of a much larger object in the sky.

This is the first supermoon eclipse since 1982 and it won’t happen again until 2033.

So bust out your telescopes and enjoy! The peak of the eclipse will occur at 10:47p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

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