»RELATED: Explaining the solar eclipse
Next up on the eclipse calendar will be a partial lunar eclipse which will take place in just over 160 days, on Jan. 31. This time, the shadow of the Earth will be cast about the moon beginning just before 6 a.m. The maximum eclipse will occur as the moon hits the horizon as it sets around 7:40 a.m.
There will be no need for special glasses to view the lunar eclipse.
»MORE: What to know about sky events
If that eclipse is too early in the morning for you, then mark your calendar for Jan. 20, 2019 when the final eclipse of the decade is expected. This should be a remarkable show (again, weather dependent) late on a Sunday evening. This lunar eclipse will begin just after 10:30 p.m. and become total at 11:41 p.m. This eclipse will be total, meaning the moon will be completely in the shadow of the earth. But the moon will not go totally dark. It will turn almost a blood color as all the sunrises and sunsets on Earth are projected onto the moon, thus the term “blood moon”.
And if you miss that total lunar eclipse, then the following decade will begin with two penumbral lunar eclipses on July 4 and another on Nov. 30, 2020, and a partial lunar eclipse on May 26, 2021. These will be followed by two more total lunar eclipses visible in the Miami Valley in May and November of 2022.
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Of course, the more spectacular of the eclipses are the solar ones. You’ll need to bring back your eclipse safety viewing glasses for these beginning with a partial solar eclipse on Oct. 14, 2023. your eclipse safety viewing glasses for a partial solar eclipse on Oct. 14, 2023. This eclipse will be at its maximum just after 1 p.m. that day. This will just be a teaser to the main event expected across the Miami Valley just seven years from now when a total solar eclipse will be visible in our area.
So, mark your calendar and set your alarm for just before 2 p.m. Monday, April 8, 2024. The sky will go nearly dark for nearly five minutes in the middle of the day during the totality between 3:09 and 3:13 p.m. with the eclipse coming to a complete end just before 4:30 p.m. If the weather cooperates, this should be one of the most spectacular celestial events here in our region in our lifetimes.
The total eclipse of 2024 will track across Mexico into southwest Texas, through Arkansas, Missouri, Indiana and then into western Ohio before lifting into eastern Canada. This time, it will be possible during that five-minute window to take your eclipse glasses off and look (briefly) at the eclipse.
So, get ready. Monday’s eclipse was just the warm-up to a decade of celestial shows ahead. Now, I’ll just have to work on the forecast and see if we can get some good weather to view these events.
Eric Elwell is WHIO StormCenter 7 Chief Meteorologist. Contact him at eric.elwell@coxinc.com or follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
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