3
$\begingroup$

Apparently, a few nights from now (more specifically on the night between the 27th and 28th of September this year, nights being Belgian nights), we will have a lunar eclipse.

That's great, and I wish I could find a nice spot to go see that with friends!

Sadly I never took a lot of time watching the moon with a compass in my hands, so I'm wondering:

Can we know at what orientation (as in North, South etc) will the moon show up from Brussels between 12PM and 4AM GMT in the night of 27th to 28th September?

What are the calculations and/or data source involved?

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
3
  • $\begingroup$ If you just want the final answer without the math, you can try here: futureboy.us/fsp/moon.fsp $\endgroup$
    – dpwilson
    Sep 22, 2015 at 15:09
  • $\begingroup$ Or try a planetarium program like Stellarium $\endgroup$
    – user21
    Sep 22, 2015 at 22:55
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Moon rises in the east, sets in the west, or thereabouts, just like the sun. When it's full, as it always is when there's a lunar eclipse it'll rise just as the sun sets, so it'll be about due south at midnight. $\endgroup$
    – Wayfaring Stranger
    Sep 22, 2015 at 23:17

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1
$\begingroup$

A planetarium programme will tell you exactly where to look, and can be invaluable when looking for the location of planets, but the Moon is very easy to find in the sky, even after several glasses of Flanders Red Ale.

So what you really want to know is a) is the eclipse visible from Belgium and b) roughly where in the sky will the moon be.

This map shows that the Eclipse will be fully visible from Belgium. So that's good.

The the Moon will be full (a lunar eclipse always happens at full moon) so the moon will rise in the East as the sun sets, and travel into the West. At Midnight (12 AM, but many people make that mistake) the Moon will be in the South, and at 4AM it will be South West, and quite low in the sky. But even eclipsed the moon hard to miss!

Don't go out too early. Nothing much will be visible until the "Umbral eclipse" starts at 1:07 UTC (=3:07 am in Belgium)

I wish you clear skies.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ Sure the moon is easy to find in the sky :) The point is to find a location that offers a good, open view to where the moon will be, as opposed to a mountain blocking it (yeah, no mountain in Belgium anyway...) Good answer anyway! Thanks :) $\endgroup$
    – aspyct
    Sep 24, 2015 at 7:55
  • $\begingroup$ Yup, great info, can now confirm it was correct :) Many thanks! $\endgroup$
    – aspyct
    Sep 28, 2015 at 5:42

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .