Tomorrow morning almost
everyone on the east coast in the Americas, eastern Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Australia will get the rare opportunity to see a special type of lunar eclipse called a selenelion, or horizontal, lunar eclipse.
A selenelion only occurs when a lunar eclipse happens around the same time as sunrise. Because of its timing, observers have the chance to see both an eclipsed moon-set and sunrise simultaneously.
According to simple geometry, we should not be able to see both the moon and the sun simultaneously during this eclipse configuration. However, Earth's atmosphere bends the light from the sun and moon, making them appear higher in the sky than they actually are.
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So, on Wednesday morning, for between two and nine minutes, you might get the chance to see both moonset and sunrise at the same time, which is very rare.
Tomorrow morning's total lunar eclipse, which will be the last total lunar eclipse this year, will begin at 4:45 a.m. EST and end at 9:05 a.m. EST. However, the most brilliant part of the eclipse, when the Earth completely shadows the moon from the light of the sun,
will start at 6:25 a.m. EST and end at 7:24 a.m., lasting 59 minutes. It is during this window that the moon will take on its infamous blood-red hue.