If Skies Stay Clear, A REALLY Cool Lunar Eclipse Early Tomorrow Morning

Get up early tomorrow morning to view the total lunar
eclipse. The moon will look red like in this photo.
It'll also be near the western horizon as the sun is 
coming up during totality. 

A lunar eclipse is going to be visible across the United States early tomorrow morning, but the eastern United States, including here in Vermont are in for a special treat. 

The lunar eclipse will happen right around sunrise. As the sun is coming up in the east, the moon will be a deep red color because of the eclipse just before it sinks below the western horizon. 

To time it out here in Vermont, the total eclipse of the moon will start at 6:04 a.m and end at 7:02 a.m. But you won't see the end of it because the moon will be below the horizon by then. 

Here's the fun part: The maximum of the eclipse is at 6:25 a.m, when the moon will be at its reddest color. Meanwhile, the sun will rise at 6:26 a.m. Burlington time. And depending on where you are in Vermont, the moon will set in the west sometime between 6:18 and 6:28 a.m 

During totality, the moon will look red like it does in most total lunar eclipses. However, the moon will be near the horizon, so you'll have that perspective. I imagine views from the Champlain Valley toward the Adirondacks while this is going on will be awesome. This is cooler than the "typical" lunar eclipse. 

The moon obviously doesn't have its own light. We see the moon shining brightly because the sun's light is blasting it. During a lunar eclipse, the Earth gets between the sun and moon, casting its shadow on the moon. 

The moon looks red during a total eclipse because the Earth's atmosphere bends sunlight and indirectly lights up the moon's surface. 

A total lunar eclipse will happen at any given location on average once every 2.5 years. 

After tomorrow, the next total lunar eclipse that will be visible from Vermont will be on June 25, 2029.

Of course, you can't see a lunar eclipse if it's cloudy. Too bad the eclipse wasn't this morning since it was crystal clear. Of course, temperatures were below zero, so you would have frozen your butt off watching it. 

As it looks now, some high clouds will be coming into Vermont at the time of the eclipse. That might not be such a bad thing. During the much more rare total eclipse of the sun in April, 2024, there were some high clouds overhead but those clouds actually enhanced the event, making it all the more fantastic.   

The high clouds might make the eclipse even more interesting than it otherwise would be. High, thin clouds tend to glow red, orange and pink at sunrise.  This could get really interesting.

The bottom line is depending on where you are in Vermont at dawn tomorrow, the eclipse might look at little milky behind the high clouds, and in other areas the high clouds will be so unsubstantial it won't interfere with the viewing at all. 

It will be cold again, however. Temperatures at that hour should be in the single numbers to low teens. Pretty chilly, but not as bad as this morning  

Partial Eclipse Of The Sun Here In Vermont/Other Areas Tomorrow

 If you're up at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning here in Vermont and have a good view of the eastern and northeastern horizon, you'll get to see a partial eclipse of the sun. 

Areas shaded in orange are where the tomorrow's annular
solar eclipse will be visible. The darkest shade of orange 
is where only the outer edges of the sun will be 
visible during the peak of the eclipse.

The eclipse will be ongoing locally when the sun rises at 5:08 a.m. It'll peak at around 5:35 a.m. with around 80 percent of the sun obscured by the moon.   It'll be all said and done by around 6:35 a.m.

Even if you're not looking at the skies, the coming of daylight after sunrise will seem a little more sluggish than usual early tomorrow as the moon blocks out part of the sun's June morning light over us. 

Since this is early, you won't see it if you're up against the west slopes of the Green Mountains, since the sun will still be behind the hills. 

On the bright side, if you do get a view, the forecast currently calls for partly to mostly clear skies, so that's good.

You don't want to look directly at the eclipse anyway. And wearing sunglasses won't cut it, either, even if you have super duper expensive "aren't I special" shades. If you have those eclipse goggles from the last eclipse in 2017, use those.  Or you can make a pinhole projector. 

This is an annular eclipse, so even in places where the moon does its best to cover the sun, you'll still see the edges of the sun.   That's why they're calling this a "ring of fire" eclipse. A lucky few people in northwestern Greenland, and parts of northern Russia and northeastern Canada will be able to see this. 

Not many people live in these areas, so they are in for a special treat.

A "ring of fire" eclipse happens when the moon is relatively far from the Earth, so it appears smaller and is unable to entirely block out the sun. A more dramatic total solar eclipse happens when the moon is a little closer to Earth. In those cases, as what parts of the U.S experience in 2017, near total darkness descends because the moon completely blocks out the sun. It's quite dramatic and exciting. 

The partial annular eclipse we'll be able to see tomorrow is practice for something spectacular. Another complete solar eclipse, like the one in 2017, is coming on April 8, 2024.   The path of totality in 2024 will pass directly over northwestern Vermont. It will be a once in a lifetime experience, for sure. 

Maybe tomorrow's partial thing isn't exactly a lifetime bucket list item, but it's still pretty cool. Except for those who like to sleep in for a couple hours past dawn.