Stargazers across eastern North America will see something truly unusual in the night sky this weekend: an extremely bright star hiding behind a full “snow moon.”
After full Sunday (February 1), the bright moon will move over Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo, and briefly disappear from the night sky on Monday night (February 2). This rare phenomenon, called a lunar eclipse, will be visible to the naked eye from much of the United States and Canada, so skywatchers are looking forward to it.
This is the latest in a series of Regulus lunar eclipses that began last year and continues into this year, but it is the first and only of these eclipses that are easily visible to observers in North America. The best views are in the hours after sunset from the eastern half of North America (from the Midwest, including eastern Canada, to the East Coast) and from northwest and West Africa.
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Observers will see Regulus, the 21st brightest star in the night sky, disappear behind the moon and reappear about an hour later. However, your location determines what you can see, when, and for how long.
In cities like New York, Toronto, and Boston, events will be held between 8:40 and 10:05 PM ET. For example, in New York City, Regulus will disappear at 8:51 PM and reappear at 9:54 PM ET, according to In-The-Sky.org. The farther west you go, the eclipse appears lower in the sky in the early evening, but the phenomenon is invisible from the western half of North America.
The phenomenon can be seen with the naked eye, but the key moments, the beginning and end of the occultation, are even more impressive when viewed under a little magnification, such as through stargazing binoculars or a small telescope trained on the lunar surface. One of the highlights is Ingress, where Regulus is enveloped by the moon as he sits along its bright edge. After being hidden, it appears on the other side of the bright moon. This moment is called “exit.”
The next major lunar eclipse (Venus eclipse on June 17th) will occur during daylight hours in North America, so it won’t be visible. Be sure to watch the regulars disappear for some unusual lunar fun this weekend.
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