Here’s When You’ll Be Able to See the Super Blood Wolf Moon Coming This Month

Did you miss the last lunar eclipse? No worries. The next one is nearly here, and it’s going to be even better. Mark your calendar for January 20th. The next lunar eclipse happens that night, and if you’re in North America, you’ll going to have a great view.

This forthcoming lunar eclipse has a super scary sounding name, “The Super Blood Wolf Moon,” but there’s really nothing scary about it. Let’s break down this lunar eclipse’s name, and then we’ll tell you when you can see it.

The reason the eclipse is being called “super” is because it is also a supermoon. A supermoon is what it’s called when a full moon is at it’s closet orbit to earth. This results in the moon looking 7% bigger than usual and a little brighter than usual too.

January 20th will be the first of three supermoons we can look forward to seeing this year. There’s going to be another one in February and a third one in March. It’s like a trilogy of supermoons!

A “blood” moon refers to the color. During a total lunar eclipse, the moon takes on a dark red color when it passes by the earth’s shadow. After January 20th, the next total lunar eclipse won’t happen until May 26, 2021, so this is definitely a special event!

As far as “wolf,” this is simply due to the fact that it’s a full moon in the month of January. Native Americans and early colonists gave the full moon a different name for every month. January is referred to as a “wolf” because of the idea of a wolf howling at the moon due to how little food there is in the cold, winter months.

Now, when can you see this rare Super Blood Wolf Moon? If you’re in the United States, you can see it on Sunday January 20th. On the west coast, it will start at 6:36pm with the full eclipse starting at 8:41pm and lasting until 9:12pm. Across the country on the east coast, the eclipse will start at 9:36pm with the full eclipse starting at 11:41pm and lasting until 12:12am Monday morning.

For more details about what time you can view the lunar eclipse in your city, check an interactive map here

Good to know: You don’t need to worry about getting any special glasses to view this lunar eclipse. That’s only necessary for a solar eclipse.

Are you going to watch the Super Blood Wolf Moon?