Clear your calendars for Tuesday night, Minnesota. A rare celestial spectacle is coming.

Here’s what’s happening with Tuesday’s total blood eclipse supermoon.

Full moon

Tuesday’s full moon will occur on September 17, 2024 at 9:35 p.m. CDT, according to NASA. The moon will appear full for about three days, from Monday night through Thursday morning.

Harvest Moon

The full moon closest to the autumnal equinox is the harvest noon. The autumnal equinox occurs on Sunday at 1:44 p.m. CDT. Here’s more from NASA about the harvest moon:

The first known written use of this name in the English language (according to the Oxford English Dictionary) was in 1706. During the fall harvest season, farmers sometimes have to work late into the night by moonlight. On average, moonrise is about 50 minutes later each night. Around the Harvest Moon, this time is shorter, about 25 minutes ahead of the latitude of Washington, D.C., and only 10 to 20 minutes further north in Canada and Europe.

Supermoon

This will be a supermoon. Supermoons are closer to Earth and can appear 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter!

Here’s more from NASA on supermoons.

This will be a supermoon. The term “supermoon” was coined in 1979 by astrologer Richard Nolle as a new or full moon that occurs when the moon is within 90% of its closest point to Earth. Because we can’t see new moons, full supermoons, the largest and brightest moons of the year, capture the public’s attention. While different publications use different thresholds to determine which full moons qualify, most agree that this will be the second of four consecutive supermoons (effectively equivalent to the October full moon for the closest of the year).

Partial lunar eclipse

You’ll see a little bite out of the top of the moon Tuesday night. That’s due to a partial lunar eclipse. Again, NASA is the best source of details here. (I’ve converted the times from EDT to CDT.)

This will be a partial lunar eclipse. The moon will enter Earth’s partial shadow at 7:41 p.m. CDT. The moon’s slight dimming will be difficult to notice until the top of the moon enters full shadow at 9:13 p.m. The eclipse will peak at 9:44 p.m., with only the top 8 percent of the moon in full shadow. The moon will exit full shadow at 10:16 p.m. and partial shadow at 11:47 a.m.

Blood Moon

Eventually, the light passing through Earth’s atmosphere will cast a reddish haze over the moon, which is why it’s called a blood moon.

In this way, the Earth’s atmosphere scatters other light waves, allowing only the red waves to pass through.

NPR has some good details on the blood moon here.

The best times to view the event depend on your location, but the lunar eclipse will peak at 9:44 p.m. CT, according to NASA. All of North and South America will have a chance to see the partial lunar eclipse and harvest a supermoon, depending on the weather. Europe and Africa will also have a chance to see the eclipse.

According to Monsue, the lunar eclipse will be partial, with only the upper part of the moon falling into the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow, called the umbra.

“Apart from the small dark area at the top of the lunar disk, most of the visible lunar disk will be in Earth’s penumbra, the lighter part of the planet’s shadow that doesn’t completely block sunlight,” she also said, adding that this will give most of the moon a reddish-brown appearance known as a “blood moon.”

Partly cloudy sky

The sky looks mostly clear to partly cloudy Tuesday evening in Minnesota. Here is NOAA’s FV3 model cloud cover output for 10 p.m. Tuesday.

Here are some beautiful Native American moon names from NASA.

The Maine Farmer’s Almanac first published “Native American” names for the full moons in the 1930s, and these names have become widely known and used. According to this almanac, the Algonquin tribes of what is now the northeastern United States called the September full moon the Corn Moon, because it was a time to gather their staple crops: corn, pumpkins, gourds, beans, and wild rice. Other European names for this full moon include the Fruit Moon, because a number of fruits ripen as summer approaches, and the Barley Moon, from the harvesting and threshing of barley.

Get out there and enjoy the show!