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Saint Vincent College Faculty Blog

Harvest Moon Lunar Eclipse – Sunday, September 27th

Posted by John Smetanka on Thu, Sep 24, 2015 @ 15:09 PM

The harvest moon is traditionally the full moon that occurs nearest to the autumnal equinox – September 23, 2015 this year. Sunday night, September 27th, this year’s harvest moon will pass through Earth’s shadow. This eclipse is especially rare, since it occurs when the moon is the closest to the earth – the so-called “super moon”. So, the full moon on September 27th will be the brightest and largest of the year. Beginning at 9:07pm the moon will enter the darkest part of the shadow – the umbra. For the next hour the full moon will increasingly be eclipsed – less and less of the moon will be directly reflecting the sun’s light as more of the moon enters the earth’s shadow.

Lunar_Eclipse

The full moon will gradually seem to disappear. At 10:11pm, the entire moon will be inside the umbra. At this point, no part of the moon will be directly reflecting sunlight. The disk of the full moon will be visible – but dramatically reduced in brightness and with a distinctive color. Instead of the usual bright, white light of the reflected direct sunlight, the moLunar-Eclipse-Geometryon will be illuminated only by the red-orange light passing through the earth’s atmosphere – the light from all the sunsets around the globe. The total eclipse will last for over 70 minutes. At 11:23pm the moon will begin to begin to leave the umbra reversing the process. At 12:30am the full moon will be back in its majestic glory.

Saint Vincent College Observatory and Angelo J. Taiani Planetarium will host an open house on Sunday, September 27 from 9pm to midnight at the Sis and Herman Dupré Science Pavilion. Viewing will take place on the plaza at the front of the building. Weather-permitting, telescopes will be available to observe both the moon and other deep-sky objects.

You will want to take advantage of this opportunity to see a total lunar eclipse. The next time a total lunar eclipse will be visible in our region will be more than three and a half years from now - January 20, 2019. However, in the meantime, an even rarer solar eclipse will occur on August 21, 2017. While we wait for the next lunar eclipse, the moon will pass directly between the earth and the sun so its shadow will be cast along a path that will cross the United States. While the entire sun will not be blocked here in Latrobe, about 90% of the sun will be obscured by the moon. Travelling south to Kentucky, Tennessee, or South Carolina will be necessary to see the total eclipse that day. While this solar eclipse is still twenty-three months in the future, some are beginning to plan summer vacations to be in the path of the total eclipse.

About the Authors

Michelle Gil-Montero is an associate professor of English and director of creative writing at Saint Vincent College. She runs the visiting writers series on campus, oversees the student literary magazine, and serves as guru to aspiring poets on campus. She received her MFA from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 2007, and she has been on the Saint Vincent faculty since that year. She is an active poet and literary translator from Spanish. She is spending part of the 2016-17 school year travelling to Argentina on a Howard Foundation fellowship and Fulbright grant. 

Dr. John J. Smetanka has been a member of the full-time faculty since 1997 and currently serves as the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Academic Dean of Saint Vincent College, a position he has held since January 2008. Dr. Smetanka has taught courses in Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry and Geology as well as interdisciplinary seminars. He has published scientific research articles in physics and astrophysics journals, numerous conference proceedings and also works in science education reform and the interaction between science, technology and theology.

Jim Kellam is an associate professor of biology at Saint Vincent College and our resident ornithologist. He received his Ph.D. from Purdue University in 2003, and is taking this semester as a sabbatical. What does that mean? He'll explain in his blog posts.

Dr. Michael J. Urick is Graduate Director of the Master of Science in Management: Operational Excellence program, and Associate Professor of Management and Operational Excellence at the Alex G. McKenna School of Business, Economics, and Government. Dr. Urick teaches courses related to organizational behavior, human resources, culture, leadership, diversity, conflict, supply chain, operations and research methods. Professionally, Urick serves on the board of the Institute for Supply Management (Pittsburgh) and belongs to the Society for Human Resource Management and APICS. For fun, Urick enjoys music and, since 1998, has led and performed with Neon Swing X-perience, a jazz band that has released multiple albums and toured portions of the US. He enjoys watching movies, is an avid reader of fantasy and science fiction, and also likes to fence.

David Safin, C'00, has been a lecturer in the communication department since the Fall of 2003, and has served in a variety of administrative roles since the summer of 2004. Currently, he teaches multimedia in the communication department as an assistant professor. 

Dr. Michael Krom received his Doctorate in philosophy at Emory University in 2007 and is currently the chair of the philosophy department at Saint Vincent. He has authored a book on religion and politics and continues to publish works in Catholic moral and political thought. Dr. Krom also directs the Faith and Reason summer program every summer. 

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